This is the moment a bitter four-year feud between two warring neighbours fighting over access to a communal alleyway flared up again – this time when one accused the other of stealing bricks he’d stacked up on the path.
Police officers were called to the furious row between Kevin Grogan and Mohammed Alam after Mr Alam moved a pile of bricks his neighbour had stacked up on the communal path between their homes – and threw them in a skip.
In a long-running dispute, Mr Grogan has claimed that the communal strip of land in Rochdale, Greater Manchester belongs to him. He has filled the area with building debris and even installed a padlocked metal gate to prevent his neighbour getting access to the area.
Former builder Mr Grogan was dubbed a ‘neighbour from hell’ as he became involved in a four-year battle with Mr Alam and his wife Anju and installed intrusive cameras which overlooked their back garden.
The feuding pair ended up before magistrates last month where Mr Grogan, 68, was told he didn’t own the land and was ordered to remove the gate.
Police officers were called to the furious row between Kevin Grogan and Mohammed Alam after Mr Alam moved a pile of bricks his neighbour had stacked up on the communal path between their homes – and threw them in a skip
In a long-running dispute, Mr Grogan has claimed that the communal strip of land Rochdale, Greater Manchester belongs to him
Mr Grogan has filled the area with building debris and even installed a padlocked metal gate to prevent his neighbour getting access to what he says is his land
Former builder Mr Grogan was dubbed a ‘neighbour from hell’ as he became involved in a four-year battle with Mr Alam and his wife Anju (pictured with their four-year-old daughter Aya) and installed intrusive cameras which overlooked their back garden
When the retired roofer failed to do so, Mr Alam took matters into his own hands and was filmed using an angle grinder to remove the gate himself.
But the row between the warring neighbours boiled over again yesterday when police were called to the once quiet street to intervene when Mr Grogan accused his neighbour of theft when Mr Alam began removing a pile of bricks from the land and put them in a skip.
In the footage, Mr Gregon can been seen angrily accusing him of stealing and ordering the arrest of his neighbour by officers, who were reluctant to intervene.
In the chaotic footage, the furious pensioner can be heard berating the four officers for failing to detain his neighbour who continued to scoop up the bricks.
As he continued to harangue the officers in the pouring rain, one finally snapped and told him: ‘This really isn’t a matter for the police, is it? People being attacked or mugged need us, not you!’
But the defiant pensioner ignored her and jumped into the skip to retrieve his bricks and with the help of two officers stacked them back against his wall before the officers left.
It was the latest twist in an extraordinary land-grab row that has seen officers repeatedly called to the properties.
Following the most recent angry exchange, Mr Grogan told : ‘What’s going on is illegal and he’s stealing my property.
‘Those bricks are on my land. The alleyway is common access land, but this nine-foot strip by my garage wall just under the overhang of the roof belongs to me.
‘He’s got no business going on my land and taking my bricks. He should be done for theft.
‘Those bricks are valuable, probably worth £1 a pop in today’s prices, but I want to use them to build a washroom on to my kitchen extension.
‘It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years but I’ve always had trouble getting into the alley because of all the debris Mr Alam, not me, has tipped on there.
‘There’s a mound of soil if you look – that’s from him, it’s from when he built his new driveway.
‘I can show you plans from when we bought the house, my garage wall is set back about ten inches within my boundary so that narrow space directly under the overhang of the roof is mine and I’m legally entitled to put my stuff there.
‘It’s a little bit technical, I know that, but it’s mine all the same.’
Mr Alam denied making any threats or assaulting Mr Grogan and his wife and instead showed CCTV images showing his neighbour waving what he said was a machete at him
Pictured: The Alams’ property (left) beside the communal alleyway blocked by Mr Grogan’s gate (beside the black wheelie bin). Mr Grogan’s property is on the right
Mr Grogan was ordered to reposition CCTV cameras, which have night-vision and audio recording, so they were only trained on his land but he refused, claiming they are his wife’s property
Mohammed Alam clears all the building rubbish from the side of his house with the police watching over
Mr Grogan, a father of three, moved into his 1930s, three-bedroom corner semi-detached home in 1989 with wife Frances, 63.
He said the couple lived there peacefully and used the alleyway to the rear of the property to store an old car that was no longer roadworthy.
All that changed – he said – when Mr Alam moved in with his wife Anju and their three children in 2019.
Mr Grogan said his neighbour threatened to torch the car they left on the land and had attacked him and his wife, causing him to take out a five-year restraining order against him.
Mr Alam is originally from Luton, Bedfordshire, but moved to Rochdale because his wife is from the area.
They had been living previously in Hong Kong, where he worked as a senior buyer.
He claims three previous owners of his smart detached home moved away because of Mr Grogan.
Laughing off claims of theft, he told : ‘He’s been told to clear the alleyway but hasn’t bothered to do it.
‘He was warned that if he didn’t get rid of the debris, it would all go in a skip. So I took down the gate last week and have continued to tidy the land.
‘The bricks should be moved to within his own backyard but he’s done so many building extensions that he doesn’t have any space.
‘His argument about owning a nine-foot by ten-inch strip of land under his garage roof is complete nonsense. It’s all common access land.
‘The bricks will stay for now, but they’ll have to go eventually. I’d like to work with Mr Grogan and make the alleyway look nice again so my kids and others in our street can play here.
‘But any time I do anything, he’s out straight away, either recording me on his phone or calling the police. They’ve got better things to do.
‘We once had armed police pull up because he dialled 999 and told them that his neighbour, Mohammed, was trying to climb into his property. All I’d done was put a ladder against my wall.
‘We moved here for a quiet life – but it’s been anything but.’
Police sergeant Richard Garland described Mr Grogan’s CCTV cameras as ‘highly intrusive’ and he later seized them before new ones were erected
Police were called to the once quiet street to intervene when Mr Grogan accused his neighbour of theft after Mr Alam began removing a pile of bricks from the land and put them in a skip
Mr Alam denied making any threats or assaulting Mr Grogan and his wife and instead showed CCTV images showing his neighbour waving what he said was a machete at him.
He said the alleyway was clear when he and his wife first viewed the property at the end of 2018 but when they moved in six months later, a padlocked gate blocked their access and the land was filled with junk.
Mr Grogan was eventually handed a community protection notice (CPN) which required him to remove the gate and to clear the land.
He was also ordered to reposition CCTV cameras, which have night-vision and audio recording, so they were only trained on his land but he refused claiming, they are his wife’s property.
When Mr Grogan appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court three weeks ago, district judge Tom Mitchell found him guilty of two charges of failing to comply with the CPN.
He was fined £750 and also handed a £300 victim surcharge and made to pay £330 in costs, a total of £1,380.