UK man’s castle won’t be his home, says court

February 03, 2010 06:16 pm | Updated 06:16 pm IST - LONDON

A man’s home is his castle - but not if the authorities say it has to be destroyed.

That’s the problem facing Robert Fidler, who Wednesday lost a High Court appeal to prevent his once secret castle from being destroyed.

Fidler built the castle without planning permission, and concealed it behind bales of straw while he and his family lived there.

The fantasy home in Salfords, Surrey, 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of London, includes ramparts and cannon.

Planning authorities found out about the unauthorized structure in 2006, after Fidler and his family had already spent four years living there.

Officials say he cannot be allowed to benefit from his intentional deception of planning authorities.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.