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| Gardeners At War: Oram |
A pensioner has been banned from his communal rear gardens after a harassment campaign against his neighbour, who claims he was jealous of her collecting their leafy borough’s ‘In Bloom’ prize.
Retired employment agency boss Michael Oram, 73, can now only enjoy his plants and flowers from his living-room window or by peering over the garden wall.
The private Winchester College-educated Kew Gardens volunteer found himself in the dock at Wimbledon Magistrates Court charged with causing criminal damage to ‘grass’ belonging to his downstairs neighbour.
Twice-married granddad Oram, of The Barons, Twickenham was cleared after magistrates ruled basement neighbour Jasmine McMurdo, 55, exaggerated the alleged destruction on September 27, last year.
However Oram, whose King’s Road, Chelsea agency supplied domestic staff to the aristocracy and the rich and famous, was convicted of causing her harassment between January 19 and July 31, last year.
He was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment, suspended for a year and was made subject to a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order, which bans him from the rear gardens.
He must also pay £500 compensation to Ms McMurdo, plus £998 for damaging her floor, which he was convicted of deliberately flooding and £500 costs.
Ms McMurdo collected the silver prize from the mayor of Richmond-upon-Thames for their ‘Borough in Bloom’ competition last year, Oram having also received silver for the property’s front garden.
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| Neighbour: Jasmine McMurdo |
“You did that out of spite didn’t you?” prosecutor Ms Roz Wardell asked Oram. “You deliberately pulled up her plants. You have a vendetta against Ms McMurdo don’t you?”
Oram was filmed on a security camera pulling at the lawn behind Ms McMurdo’s flat. “The CCTV shows and elderly man removing dead foliage and weeds,” he told the court.
“When I moved in it was a jungle of brambles, an utter mess. I’ve been tending this garden since 2006 when it was an utter wreck.
“Through blood, sweat and tears and my own cost and energy I have brought it back to the garden we have today.”
Oram says he was forced to move into his flat after losing his £3m Richmond Hill home in a divorce many years ago after having an affair with he and his wife’s attractive Peruvian au pair.
“Richmond prides itself on its green-fingered inhabitants and its parks and is one of the best areas to live in London.
“I was sad that I did not have the chance to collect the prize from the mayor.
“Ms McMurdo collected it and has been claiming it was a prize she gained, which I dispute. She’s not won an award for gardening, can you produce a certificate with her name on it?
“Ms McMurdo doesn’t know anything about plants whatsoever. In fact they were planted by a previous tenant who cared for that garden.
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| Prize-Winner: Oram Outside Court |
“These gardens are kept by me. I spend all my disposable income on it. I do love the gardens.
“This year I’m hoping to win the gold medal.
“I was removing plants that were past their prime and plants that were growing over the communal pathway.
‘I was weeding the lawn, taking out dandelions and moss that are destructive to the lawn.
“This has been completely twisted. Everything is twisted against me.
“This case has been brought to damage and discredit me. Ms McMurdo is paranoid and has left signs for me next to plants on sticks.
“She also left me a note saying saying that she did not like to see me reclining in my bathing costume in the Summer.
“It is insulting for a man of my age and my high-birth and high-education compared to some people in this case who can’t even spell properly.
“I’m up against people who hate me,” added Oram, claiming his car and garden rockery has been vandalised.
“I’ve put up with hell and high water from this woman. It’s a vendetta.”
He denied deliberately drilling holes in his bathroom floor to flood Ms McMurdo. “There were faults with my washing machine.”
Even though still subject to a restraining order after a previous harassment conviction against the neighbour Oram insisted: “She issued death threats to me with a broken bottle to cut my neck.”
Clearing Oram of criminal damage magistrate Mr. David Martin announced: “Ms McMurdo said he tore up clumps of Umbrella Bamboo and Lavender, but we do not see that on the CCTV.”
When making the ‘Crimbo’ order against Oram the pensioner told the magistrate: “They are trying to extinguish the basic right of an Englishman to be in his garden.”
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| Ban: Oram Cannot Set Foot In Garden |
Ms McMurdo said: “I have suffered harassment over the years. Mr. Oram has targeted me to drive me out and I have often been in tears.
“He has tried to make my flat uninhabitable and had now turned to vandalising my vegetables and flowers.”
She said Oram sent her a text warning: “If we don’t find peace the future is going to be very grim for you and your son.”
The NHS employee added: “I’ve been torn in two. I feel so unsafe with Mr. Oram living above me.
“I feel on edge all the time. I have a feeling of dread in my chest. I never know what I’m going to walk into.
“I just wait for something to happen. I have no enjoyment at being at home anymore.”
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