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British couple walled into French home by ‘neighbours from hell’

– ‘They were terrorised’ –

The village is in the heart of the spectacular Cathar country in the Aude, where ironically there are historical precedents of persecution of this type. The Cathars heretical religious sect was ruthlessly suppressed by the Inquisition in the Middle Age, with hundreds killed by being immured in caves and in their homes.

“The Dysons have been harassed for years but it has got worse since last March,” the village’s mayor Alain Labattut said. “They were terrorised,” he told AFP, as a neighbour nodded in agreement.

The Dysons are very popular in the village, which has 258 inhabitants, about 40 of them British. The Dunlops less so, the mayor said, following disputes with other neighbours.

However, Scottish-born Robert Dunlop, 67, who sports a long white beard, has previously claimed to be the victim of three poisoning attempts, complaining at one point to police in Glasgow.

The mayor showed AFP a 14-page letter Dunlop wrote to former French justice minister Rachida Dati claiming three attempts had been made on their lives.

The Dunlops – who remained indoors during the protest by villagers – refused to talk to journalists. Asked by AFP in English if he would like to comment, Dunlop said, “I am deaf, I don’t hear what you are saying, I am deaf.”

His Polish-born wife Krystina, who is in her 50s, refused to comment.

Born in South Africa before moving to work in England, the Dysons said they retired to southern France in 2004 to find a little bit of the peace and quiet of their youth in the sun. The Dunlops moved in a year later.

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“At the beginning they seemed friendly but then they parked their van at the door,” Dyson said, “and they became nastier and nastier.”

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