A man has been sentenced to six months in jail for repeatedly attempting to expand his house without obtaining proper planning permission. Trevor Hadjimina was found guilty of contempt of court for defying a judge’s order to halt construction work on his property in Peckham, South London, where he has resided since 1991.
The legal battle between Hadjimina and Southwark Council began in 2017 when the council took action against his efforts to build on a single-storey extension. Despite being issued an injunction in 2018 to prevent unauthorized construction, Hadjimina continued to work on the property, claiming the structure was a caravan. Last year, the council returned to court, alleging that Hadjimina had violated the injunction.
After confirming the contempt of court allegations in March, the judge postponed sentencing when Hadjimina promised to dismantle the structure. However, at a recent hearing where Hadjimina was absent, the judge sentenced him to six months in prison for resuming building activities. The judge highlighted Hadjimina’s repeated attempts to expand the extension and his defiance of court orders.
Hadjimina had previously been instructed to cease all work and remove certain structures, which he initially complied with. Yet, last year, he began constructing a new large timber-framed structure, followed by a substantial brick structure. During the legal proceedings, Hadjimina argued that he was not bound by the injunction and questioned the court’s authority over him, but the judge dismissed these claims as baseless.
The judge emphasized the seriousness of Hadjimina’s deliberate breaches of the court order and the challenge they posed to the rule of law. Considering the gravity of the contempt, the judge ruled that the six-month sentence could not be suspended, cautioning against the freeman of the land theories that often lead individuals to conflict with legal authorities to their own detriment.
