THE MAN who made a 6ft-high earth barrier between his 90-acre Hampshire estate and a neighbour's home has denied he is a "bully boy".

Property investor Ami Brar said businessman Jeremy Paine's decision to take down a fence between the two West Wellow properties meant his children's ponies could escape and cause accidents on the nearby A36.

Mr Brar claimed his neighbour had deliberately chopped down shrubbery and trees between the two properties so he could enjoy the view across the Chatmohr House Estate, which is owned by Mr Brar's family.

Then, Mr Brar claimed, Mr Paine told him he could not afford to replace the fence and offered to move if he was paid £500,000.

"It clearly says in his deeds that he has no right of view," said Mr Brar, whose property company Chatmohr Estate vows not to be bound by "conventional wisdom" on its website.

The firm, which is run by Mr Brar and his brother Hamey, has interests in apartment developments in the region and is based in a business park on the large Crawley Hill estate.

Mr Brar said: "We can do anything we like on our land.

"This is not a bully boy developer doing something to a local man. It is a local man versus a local man - it's a private issue. I am not a bad-guy developer.

"He told us categorically that he didn't have the money to replace the fence. He said to me: 'If you don't want me here give me £500,000 to go,' and I said: 'no.'

"The reason he bought it was that he thought he could take down the fences and enjoy all the acres that belong to my family.

"You could come to his house and take a step off his property on to mine and you wouldn't know."

The row between Mr Paine and Mr Brar was revealed in the Daily Echo yesterday. Mr Paine removed his fence and part of a hedge that backed on to Mr Brar's estate - only to find a six foot mound of earth just inches from his property.

Mr Paine said he had decided to replace the fence when it became rotten. He denied that he had never intended to replace the fence which borders his land and Mr Brar's estate.

He said: "Of course I was going to put up a new fence. We have a young family and it says in the deeds that the fence must be maintained for livestock."

He agreed that he had told Mr Brar to make him an offer of £500,000 to buy the property but said that the remark had come as a result of a row and was only made because he felt Mr Brar was trying to force him out of the house.

He said: "My wife has been in tears. She does not want this. He took my remark that I could not afford to replace the fence out of context. I said I could not afford to replace the whole fence but I can afford to replace the bit at the back.

"You can't put up a new fence unless you take down the old one. I already have fencing materials for the part we removed."