A couple has lost their home after fighting a legal battle with a man known as Doctor Pot.
Alo and Andrew Brake transformed a farm and manor house in Dorset into a venue that hosted celebrity weddings, but the financial crisis of 2008 forced them to sell up.
They continued to run the business from the site, but nine years later West Axnoller Farm was sold again to Dr Geoffrey Guy, a cannabis entrepreneur. Disagreements arose between the couple and Guy and they were fired in 2018 and ordered to leave the house. The resulting court battle has involved dozens of hearings before several judges and culminated last week in the Court of Appeal agreeing that the Brakes must quit Axnoller House.
Niraj Modha, representing Guy’s company, said the Brakes had effectively been “trespassing” for more than three years, costing the tycoon about £320,000 in lost revenue.
The Brakes had attempted to claim that they were agricultural tenants, but the High Court ruled that this was not the case, and that the farm was merely “a set” for the wedding business.
A further dispute between the Brakes and Guy’s company over possession of the cottage where the couple stayed during events is set to be decided by appeal judges at a later date.
