Kazz, you need to report this now you have seen the expert. Here is a link for you, https://west-midlands.police.uk/your-options/criminal-damage# you can do it online. Once it is reported it will be recorded and you can go ahead and do something about it in court. If you don't put a stop to this behaviour, you will never have any peace. You will undoubtedly find the information online interesting. I'm sure that all your mates on here will want to know how things go - ok
Before your arborist cuts your tree down, it would be a good idea to take photos of the damage, and ask for a written report from him to help you with your case. Criminal damage does not go unpunished !!
I did report this it at the time to the police as criminal damage and I was given an incident reference number. The police went to see the neighbour who admitted to what he had done. This is what 2 of the trees looked like:
I took lots of images at the time. He can’t do a report and if we wanted one we would need to pay and get one from someone who would take tree and soil samples, which would come at a cost. We are in discussion with our insurers on whether we have cover.
@Kazzawazza I'm glad you have seen to the initial details, and I'm feeling angry about you suffering such behaviour. I wish you well, and don't forget you may be able to enlist some assistance from a Citizens Advice lawyer. I wonder if the local Council has a ''tree'' department to get some advice from - they hate tree vandals and would possibly get co-operation from your local police.
Thank you for your kind advice @Tetters It’s great to share knowledge and experiences on sites like this, especially when your in unknown territory. I will let you know how things progress. I submitted further information to my insurers today and the police officer that visited next door will be calling me next week to let me know what what happened when he visited him last year. There may be little he can provide though due to GDPR. I think a lot more would be known from a subject access request, but that’s £15. I’m hoping my insurers will request that.
Kazzawazza, that was a beautiful tree. So sorry. I'm wondering how your neighbor feels now about the dead tree overshadowing his garage roof. Can't imagine he'd be very happy about that. Question for you: I usually think of lilacs as bushes, not trees. Did you high prune it to get it to grow into a tree or is this some special lilac tree?
This was the tree in 2018. His thoughts are probably that the dead tree will at some point be taken out. The lilac has always been a tree - it was in the garden when we purchased the house. It was high pruned and we have just maintained it that way.
Tell you what !!! I'm blowed if I'd take it out I would leave it where it is and grow a huge clematis montana on it followed by a nice big honeysuckle halliana and whatever else takes your fancy, and not only that I would find as many weed seeds as I could and chuck em over the fence. If he's got any flowers at all, pop round and turn them upside down - they'll look right nice with their roots upwards....... that'll maybe make you feel better for a while. Sort yourself out with an alibi first of course (pity we don't live a bit closer)
The combination of cutting into the trunk and the hot dry weather seems logical. I am convinced that there will be new growth next year.
I think I agree with you regarding the cause, unless it’s by underhanded means of course, which wouldn’t surprise me. I’m watering the tree every 2/3 days at the moment and I’m going to give it a good feed this week.
