Cricketer’s son awarded £159,000 over ‘blackmail’ from neighbour

The son of a former England cricket captain has been awarded nearly £160,000 after being “blackmailed” by a neighbour over a strip of village land.

Jeremy Cowdrey, whose father, Colin, captained the national side in the 1960s and 1970s, accused Vanessa Gibson of lying about the legal status of his tennis court which made his house in Kent unsellable.

A judge was told that the dispute between Cowdrey, a film producer, and his neighbour started after Gibson purchased a strip of land in the village of Goudhurst, which meant that she owned part of Cowdrey’s tennis court.

That dispute was initially settled out of court but when Cowdrey attempted to sell his house, Gibson was said to have sent a flurry of emails that jeopardised the sale.

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