Neighbours rally round Ingham over his arrest

NEIGHBOURS today rallied round Sir Bernard Ingham after his arrest for alleged criminal damage.

The former press secretary to Lady Thatcher was held last night after a long-running dispute with neighbour Barry Cripps boiled over.

Sir Bernard had been infuriated to find Mr Cripps's Mercedes parked in front of his garage in Purley. What happened next is disputed, but police say it did not escalate into a fight. Mr Cripps alleges criminal damage to his car door and Sir Bernard spent part of the evening making a statement at Croydon police station. However, residents in his street today backed the columnist and broadcaster. One said: "He is a very good neighbour." Another added: "We get on well with Sir Bernard. He is a good neighbour and a good guy." The 66-by MARK REYNOLDS two-storey home only by a thin privet hedge, and the dispute between the two is believed to have a long history. The first row erupted in December 1992, when Sir Bernard was unable to force Mr Cripps to remove a GBP 70,000 loft conversion built without planning permission. Instead, Mr Cripps struck a deal with the council and was later granted retrospective permission. Sir Bernard also year-old has been bailed to return to the station in February pending a report to the Crown Prosecution Service. Sir Bernard said: "All that happened was that I have an extremely troublesome neighbour. He drove over my land to try to get his car into a rear garage. He knows he should not do so. When I remonstrated with him he blocked my way into my garage and then he alleged that I damaged his door, although I could see no damage." Sir Bernard said his neighbour had then called police. "I gave them a statement, it is neither here nor there, those are the facts." His white sunken bungalow is separated from Mr Cripps's complained about two garages Mr Cripps had built, along with a sauna and a Wendy house. Neighbours said that it was the numerous extensions to Mr Cripps's home, disputed by Sir Bernard, which have led to the continuing and increasing acrimony. Mr Cripps and his wife Linda later issued a statement which was read out by a neighbour, Mervyn Toogood. It read: "We have already had to endure Sir Bernard's overbearing attitude for several years and do not wish to engage in a public dispute with him. "His behaviour over this period has now culminated in the incident occurring yesterday in which he kicked and dented the driver's door of the Mercedes. "We have an undisputed right of way over the vehicular access behind Sir Bernard's property which enables us to drive to our rear garage. It was whilst attempting to drive up this shared access way that Sir Bernard kicked the car." The statement added that Sir Bernard's motivation appeared to be the collapse of his court action against his neighbours over a boundary dispute on the first day of trial in September 1996. He also appeared to be angry that the loft conversion was finally accepted by Croydon council as lawful development, and that an unreserved apology was made by the council, the statement said.

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