War Of The Roses: Interior Designer Cleared Of Race Charges Against Florist Neighbour

Court Date: Peter & Joanne Barkatullah 

An interior designer has been cleared of racism charges against his Romanian financier-turned florist neighbour in a War of the Roses-style dispute in their Surrey gated community.

Peter Barkatullah, 59, claimed mother-of-four Mihaela Cavallaro broke community rules by running her floral business from her garage and also objected to her children playing in front of her £1.8m house.

The pair were next-door neighbours at St. Ann’s Park, Virginia Water and she called the police when confronted by an angry Barkatullah outside her home on May 24, 2022.

“We ended up moving out of there,” she told Staines-upon-Thames Magistrates’ Court. “He went to our estate agents to have us kicked out, saying we were trash.

“I was a renter and that bothered him deeply because he is an owner. I didn’t belong in this country and my kind of people didn’t belong in this country, but I’m not an illegal. I came here with papers.”

Her three youngest children, aged eight, six and two were playing in a coned-off area in front of her house when Barkatullah stopped his car.

“He said that it was not a playground and children should not be there and that I should move the cones, but there is nothing in the rules that says no cones are allowed.”

The row continued on the driveway of Barkatullah’s £1.7m house. “He said: ‘Get the f*** out of my property,’ and tried to hit me and came at me with a fist.

“He told me to go back to my country. I don’t need this hate, it had been going on for two years,” Mrs Cavallaro - known in the community as ‘Mela’ - told the trial.

“He said: ‘You don’t belong here,’ and I can’t believe anyone would say that, this is a good neighbourhood.”

Mihaela 'Mela' Cavallaro

She denied going to the police in retaliation to Barkatullah’s numerous complaints against her. 

“It is a tight community and I just wanted to be left alone to live in that property.”

She told the court Barkatullah’s behaviour was not exemplary, despite his complaints against her. “He drives his car too fast and too loud and has a lot of clients at his house.

“I was not running a business from my house, it was a hobby and I was volunteering and doing a lot for charity and I do not bother the neighbours.”

However, the original 999 emergency call was played in court and Mrs Cavallaro failed to report she was under threat of physical attack from Barkatullah or told by him to return to her home country.

The 6.00pm row was witnessed by the Chairman of the estate’s management company Derek Holden, who told the trial: “I heard a commotion and saw the defendant in his car. He had stopped opposite the home of Mela.

“I heard shouting and angry voices. He was clearly angry, but I have good soundproofing so I have no evidence of exactly what was said.

“He was shouting at Mela and a group of small children and they were shouting back and several of the children were crying.

“His wife came out and ushered him away. He was in no way physically aggressive.”

Mr Holden’s wife Dorian told the trial: “Mela has charming, lovely children and me and my wife have great respect for her.

“We heard shouting and very loud noises and our neighbour was out there with her children playing and another neighbour was shouting at her and she was shouting at him.

Neighbours: Dorian & Derek Holden

“I could hear noise, but not the exact words they were saying and he came back to have more confrontational words with Mela.

“It was again very angry and he had his hands up as if he might do something, but his wife came out and restrained him.

“Both me and my husband were afraid he may lay hands on her or strike her because he was so furious.

“She was visibly very, very upset and her children were crying.

“He did not like the children being outside with their toys. He disagreed with that.”

Barkatullah, supported by wife Joanne, 53, was found not guilty of both racially-aggravated assault and racially-aggravated harassment and awarded his defence costs from central funds.

Ex-Drugs Fugitive's Drink-Drive Police Crash

Banned: Masuro leaving court

A drug-dealer, who fled the USA and acquired a British passport under a new identity, was arrested again when he crashed into a police car while over twice the drink-drive limit.

Neo Masuro, 51, was hunted down after six years on the run and hauled back to the USA, where he began a twenty-five year sentence in 2009.

He is now back living in Surrey, running a country pub in Outwood, where his presence has been described as “positive for the residents” and where he enjoys “a great reputation.”

Masuro, of Jeremiah Court, Redhill pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol in his breath and was fined £1,000, with £85 costs, plus a £400 victim surcharge and was disqualified for twenty months.

He says he consumed “a couple of pints” at his pub before driving the ten-minute journey home, but had 83 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit is 35.

Staines-upon-Thames Magistrates’ Court heard it was 4.10am on January 27 when the ex-convict collided with the patrol car in Coopers Hill Road, Nutfield as officers tried to block the road to deal with an injured deer.

The son of the former Attorney General of Grenada and a French mother, Masuro - then known as Emmanuel Ganpot - was on a student visa at Florida’s Liberal Arts Eckerd College, St Petersburg in 2001.

At local nightspot ’Storman’s’ Sheriffs from Pinellas County, acting on a tip-off, seized 3,500 ecstasy pills with a street value of £24,000; cocaine; ketamine and GHB.

Masuro pleaded no contest to possessing or selling drugs and was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, but fled the USA on April 1, 2003 when given three weeks bail to sort his affairs before surrendering himself to custody.

He ended up living in Oxted, Surrey under his new identity, working at the George Inn, High Street and playing drums and keyboards in a local band.

Masuro was also employed by the National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy after passing background checks with his new name.

Downfall: This MySpace pic exposed Masuro

However, he was traced online by Florida assistant state attorney William Burgess, who discovered many of the fugitive’s internet friends were communicating on social media with a ’Neo.’

His MySpace photo was matched to Masuro’s booking mugshot and the account traced to Oxted, where he was arrested on an extradition warrant in September, 2008.

On his return to the USA he found himself in front of the same judge, who increased the sentence from six years to twenty-five years.

It was not revealed how much time Masuro served, but he was back in the UK in 2022 because he has clocked-up three speeding convictions since then.

Yesterday, prosecutor Gus Walter told the court: “Police attended to reports of a deer in the road struggling to move and parked their vehicle facing the oncoming traffic with sufficient space left to pass through.

“Oncoming traffic would have time to see their lights and slow down, but officers observed a vehicle in excess of 40mph and attempted to flag it down to stop, but the vehicle collided with the parked police car.”

Masuro stepped out of his black Ford Cougar and was obviously under the influence of alcohol.

“The driver seemed unfazed even though a significant amount of damage had been caused to both vehicles and he stated that he was not speeding and the police car had driven towards him,” added the prosecutor.

“The police officers could smell intoxicating liquor on his breath and he was slurring his speech and the failed the roadside breath test,” added Mr Walter.

“Fortunately nobody was injured and the defendant was detained at Salford Custody Suite.

“This is an unacceptable standard of driving. He did not stop or slow down for the police and was in excess of 40mph, which is an aggravating factor and was involved in a collision.”

Masuro’s lawyer Niamh Sexton told the court: “This is solely a driving with excess alcohol case and there are no other charges.

“Mr Masuro has no previous convictions and it was a short distance he was driving.

“He leases a pub and it was short ten minute drive home when he was stopped. He has shown a considerable amount of remorse and he says that he is devastated.

“He has no issue with alcohol or drugs. He is not an alcoholic, but had a couple of pints at the pub.

“He is a businessman and a long disqualification will affect that business. He delivers goods to the pub kitchen and has many employees.”

The pub has a weekly turnover of £5,000, with Masuro paying himself £1,000 after expenses.

Two friends wrote letters of reference on his behalf with the first stating: “He has a great reputation among the local people.”

The second wrote: “His presence will bring positivity to the neighbourhood, which will be positive for the residents.”

Magistrate Rosemary Lane told Masuro: “We find there was an unacceptable standard of driving. You failed to stop or slow down for the police and there was a collision.”

Gates Of Hell: Neighbours' Court Fight Continues

Court Date: Sally & David Catchpole

A horse whisperer and his wife, who won a bitter land dispute with their rural neighbours, have now been accused of lying in a private prosecution brought by the next-door couple.

Horse behaviourist David Catchpole, 63, and his wife Sally Catchpole, 66, are accused of perjuring themselves during the eight-year long civil fight.

Today, they faced off at Guildford Crown Court with music teacher Steven Sammut, 56, and his wife Sandra Sammut, 54, who have escalated the case to the criminal courts.

The dispute centres around a patch of sloping land, which provides access from the public road to a large side gate on the Catchpole’s property.

It is adjacent to the Sammut’s gate in a part of Surrey where properties routinely sell for over one million pounds.

The Sammut’s were ordered to pay £65,99.86 costs to the Catchpole’s, which rose to over £122,000 when they lost an appeal to the High Court.

It is believed they now have a total legal bill of approximately £350,000 and the Catchpole’s have had to spend around £140,000 in legal fees.

In 2018 the Catchpole’s won a civil case at Winchester County Court, which ruled the Sammut’s had no right to prevent them using the land.

Twin Gates: Disputed Land

The Sammut’s have now brought a criminal private prosecution against their neighbours and the Catchpole’s arrived on bail at the Crown Court and have had to instruct a barrister for the new case.

The Catchpole’s, of Glenhead Farm, Hyde Lane, Churt, Farnham are both charged with wilfully making false statements in judicial proceedings on March 12 and 13, 2018.

They are also both charged with obstructing the course of public justice on or about June 1, 2020 by providing false and misleading information regarding their property boundaries to Aldershot & Farnham County Court.

The couple are also jointly charged with the theft of a telegraph pole belonging to the Sammut’s between July 1 and July 31, 2020.

It is believed the Sammut’s, of Hyde Hill Farm, Hyde Lane, Churt, Farnham placed the pole across the disputed land to designate their boundary.

David Catchpole is the boss of Horse Wyse and provides £100 per hour lessons and clinics to equine owners.

Private Prosecution: Steve & Sandra Sammut

The couple use the gate next to the disputed land to provide additional access for horse and sheep to their farm.

Steven Sammut, who studied classical guitar at London’s Trinity College of Music, is the CEO and founder of Aldershot’s Rock & Pop Foundation.

After bringing the private prosecution it took over a year to bring the Catchpole’s to Guildford Magistrates’ Court, where they appeared for the first time last month.

Mr Sammut told the court yesterday: “This case has been going on for eight years and since the last magistrates court appearance I have had two heart attacks.

“It has taken fifteen months just to get here, fifteen months of interest charges between us. These delays are costing us dearly.”

The Sammut’s have applied to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to take over and finance the case.

The hearing was adjourned to May 28 for the CPS’s decision.

Male On Male Sex Assault: Do You Know This Suspect?

A train passenger woke up on an evening service to find another man molesting him.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released this CCTV image of the suspect.

Investigating officers are appealing for the assistance of members of the public to identify the unknown male.

The victim was onboard a train travelling between London's Liverpool Street and Colchester, Essex at approximately 7.30pm on Monday, March 4.

He dozed off and when he awoke he found the mystery male sitting next to him was carrying out a sexual assault.

Detectives would like to speak to the man in the image who they believe may have information that could help their investigation.

Anyone who recognises him is asked to contact British Transport Police by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference number 325 of 5 March. 

Alternatively you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Jail For Seven Sisters Sex Pest

A tube train sex pest is starting a nine-and-a-half month prison sentence for molesting a female passenger at Seven Sisters Underground Station.

Nathan Gordon, 46, of Wightman Road, Hornsey was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman at the north London station on May 24, last year.

He also pleaded guilty at Wood Green Crown Court to assaulting a police officer, who he spat in the face, after his arrest for another incident in March, 2023.

Gordon must also comply with a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, (SHPO) which prevents him approaching, touching or making any attempt to communicate with any lone female traveling on the railway network.

He must also leave any station immediately after leaving a train or make his way directly to the next available connecting service.

The court heard how on Wednesday, May 24 last year Gordon sexually assaulted a woman at Seven Sisters London Underground station.

He was reported to a member of station staff who challenged him before he left the station.

Later the same day officers were alerted to the suspect lying on a bench at the station, who was identified by staff as the same man.

Officers recognised Gordon from a previous incident back in March, 2023 when he was arrested for a separate offence and spat at an officer while in custody.

Investigating officer DC Stephen Allen said: “Gordon’s blatant intimidation and harassment of this woman was both unnerving and sickening. 

“Thanks to her bravery for reporting the incident immediately, despite being understandably upset, meant that officers were able to attend the location and identify and arrest Gordon within hours of the offence.

“He’s now been issued with a SHPO which will go some way to protecting women on the rail network once he is released from jail.

“We will stop at nothing to deter, pursue, arrest and bring sex offenders on the railway network to justice. 

“Every report is important. We urge everyone to save 61016 to their phones and download the Railway Guardian before you travel so you can discreetly get in touch with us if you need us.”

Woman Targeted By Bogus Police Officer

A fake cop targeted a lone woman – becoming angry and abusive and grabbing his crotch – when she challenged him.

The victim was approached by the mystery man, posing as a police officer, at Hampstead Heath Overground Station at 9.30am on Monday, March 11.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released this CCTV image of their suspect.

They are requesting the assistance of members of the public to identify him.

When the woman said she didn’t believe he was a plain-clothed police officer he became agitated and abusive and threatened her while grabbing at his crotch.

Officers believe the man in the images may have information which could assist their investigation.

If you recognise him, or have any other information, please contact BTP by texting 61016 or call 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 236 of 11 March.

Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.