A homeowner has been slammed by locals for his overgrown ‘jungle’ garden which has made their lives ‘utter hell’.
Edward Sheehan has been hauled to court and fined nearly £2,000 for the state of his front and back garden.
Locals claim it has attracted rats, mice and is even bringing down the house prices on their road in Dagenham, east London.
Barking and Dagenham Council received a report in May 2024 about the state of the garden. Environmental enforcement officers visited and found the front and back gardens an issue and started court action.
Sheehan was issued with several warnings by the council and inspections took place which found the gardens in the same condition.
He was summoned to Barkingside Magistrates Court on March 25, 2025, where he was found guilty in his absence of failing to comply with the notice and ordered to pay a total of £1,883.
Now, his neighbours fear the court action will not deter him.
Ted Lines, 69, who lives on the street, said: ‘It’s an absolute dump.
‘I’m glad the man has been fined. He deserves it. I fear it won’t make any difference though. He has been given enough warnings.
‘It makes the area look terrible. Everyone else has lovely gardens. It’s a tidy and proud area. Why does this man think he is any different?
‘He does not cause any other problems, he just has a garden which looks a right mess. It’s awful.’
Mr Lines said it had been a problem for a number of years. He added: ‘I really wish proper action could force it to be cleared.’
Another resident said: ‘It’s a jungle. I fear it brings down the house prices for the rest of us. If you were viewing a house on the street and you looked at that, it would stick in your mind. It certainly would me anyway.
‘I would think twice. You’d wonder what was going on. It’s disgusting. I see rats and mice coming from the garden quite often. They run across the street.
‘It’s like a third-world country. There is no excuse. It’s just utter hell. I have a phobia of rats.
‘Edward still lives there as well. He has to climb under the growth and bushes to get to his front door. It’s an insane situation.’
The resident said other neighbours had tried to urge him to clear the mess but he ‘ignores’ them.
He said: ‘He’s a nice bloke. But he does not listen.’
Kenneth Wisdom, 40, moved into a house opposite the garden last July, and said he was ‘gobsmacked’ at what he saw.
He said: ‘It’s a real eye-sore. It’s very untidy. I think it’s probably full of rats. I have seen them rush out the garden. I have children and it’s a real worry.’
George Gosling, 89, said Edward was a ‘nice man’ but could not understand why his garden had become such a mess.
He said: ‘I do not understand his mind. He’s a nice man.
‘He’s lived there for about 50 years. It’s been like that for a while. He can’t get out of his back garden because the back garden is like that. And he crawls under it all in the front garden to get in and out of the front door.
‘I have had to cut some of it back for him. That is so it does not come into our front garden, else it would overgrow into our front garden.
‘It’s a very tidy street.’
Neighbour Zoe Forsyth-Poague said it was a frustrating situation.
She said: ‘There’s nothing we can do. I can see how bad his back garden is. He’s a quiet man, he’s not loud. But the garden is how it is.
‘I’ve seen him crawl through it to get out his front door.’
Another said: ‘He obviously does not have a problem with how it is. But it is not fair for everyone else. I am fuming.
‘In the summer you see the vermin. That is not fair for other residents.
‘God knows what the house is like inside. I think he can do what he wants and live how he wants. But it’s not fair on other residents in the street.’
Councillor Syed Ghani, cabinet member for enforcement and community safety, said: ‘Gardens like this are not only an eyesore but as this case shows can pose a real risk to the local community as an ideal environment for pests and rodents.
‘It is crucial for property owners to maintain their land to ensure the wellbeing of the neighbourhood, and while the enforcement process can be lengthy, we will take action.’