A retired couple said they spent their entire savings in a bitter legal battle with their former neighbor over a fence that had been erected on their shared driveway.

Graham and Katherine Bateson said they had spent $59,551 (£45,000) on legal fees since their late neighbour Wendy Leedham erected the fence next to their bungalow.

The couple sought an injunction to remove the sign, arguing that it had blocked the driveway to their property since it was erected in 2019.

Mr and Mrs Bateson argued that when they bought their two-bedroom house for $39,039 (£29,500) in 1987, they were told it was a shared driveway with their neighbour.

They were informed that there was an invisible boundary between the two properties that could not be built on.

However, her neighbour sought legal advice allowing her to erect the fence between the properties in Snettisham, Norfolk.

Mrs Bateson, 73, said: “We have lived here for 32 years and there have been no problems with the previous neighbours. They all agreed that it was a shared driveway.

“We bought it as a shared drive, that’s how it was explained and sold to us.

“I don’t understand how you can have all the controls carried out legally and then take revenge for it 30 years later.

“That all your life savings are taken away from you in this way, even though you knew from the beginning that you were in the right.”

The legal dispute dragged on for three years until a settlement hearing took place in November 2021.

At the hearing, it was decided that a new deed would need to be drawn up showing the boundary between the two properties along the fence, meaning it can remain.

Wendy Leedham did not live to see the outcome.

She died months before the hearing in May 2021 at the age of 74.

Ms Leedham’s former three-bedroom home is currently for sale with estate agents Sowerbys for $496,263 (£375,000).

The Sowerbys’ 12-page brochure makes no mention of the fence or the boundary dispute, and the Batesons fear a new owner could replace it.

Ms Bateson, a retired factory manager, said: “We still live in fear that they will build another fence when there shouldn’t have been one in the first place.”

The Batesons say the shared driveway and open property line were later confirmed by an appraiser’s report after the settlement hearing.

Mr Bateson, a 75-year-old retired window cleaner, took the law into his own hands in September 2022.

He said: “I tore down the fence and was arrested for criminal damage.

“They locked me up for 12 hours on a Sunday and didn’t give me anything to eat until midnight.”

Last December, the charges were dropped because prosecutors believed that pursuing the case further was not in the public interest.

Mr Bateson said the couple could not continue their legal battle at that point as they could no longer afford to do so, having already spent $59,551 (£45,000).

He said: “We saved and worked hard. Now it’s all gone.”

Both parties bore the legal costs themselves.

The fence was not rebuilt and the Land Registry rejected the revised deed because it was not satisfied with the way the Batesons’ signatures were authenticated.

Sowerby and Ms Leedham’s family have been contacted for comment.