A retired builder facing a £200,000 legal bill over a long running boundary dispute with his neighbour has vowed not to pay up and insisted: 'I have no regrets.'

Samuel Horton has been hit with the huge bill after losing a bitter legal dispute with his next-door neighbour Jonathan Orchard over a 16-inch strip of land that separates their homes in Essex.

Despite being ordered by a court to pay his neighbour's costs he today vowed: 'I will not hand over a single penny. I don't regret one bit as I am in the right and had no choice.'

Meanwhile the neighbour he is at war with, 65-year-old semi-retired insurance consultant Jonathan Orchard, said he too has no intention of dropping the matter and intends to pursue Mr Horton for the full amount.

He promised: 'If I have to knock on their front door with a cardboard box for their possessions so they can move out I will do that.'

The fraught situation came about when Mr Horton, 69, and his wife Kathleen, 68, who had been living in a £815,000 house with a detached garage in Downham, Essex, decided they wanted to downsize from their three-bedroom home.

They converted the garage into a two-bedroom home in 2019, and moved into it after selling the main house the following year.

However, the couple, who are both on state pensions, were told by planning officers that part of a retaining wall they had built for the conversion was 16 inches too close to the garden of their neighbours, Mr Orchard and his wife Carolyn, 63.

This was the beginning of long running legal battle in which the Hortons claimed that the garden fence dividing their properties was not on the true boundary.

Kathleen Horton told MailOnline: 'Our lives have been ruined because of this. We never went to court and never wanted it to do this far. We have repeatedly tried to settle this, but our neighbour has refused to engage.

'Each time we have tried to reach a settlement he has refused and just gone to the courts. We believe he has taken out an indemnity policy and that is paying all the legal fees.'

Mrs Horton said Mr Orchard had launched a 'vendetta' against them when they submitted plans to knock down a garage and build a two-bedroom bungalow after downsizing from their detached home in 2019.

She said: 'We found out that he had sent 150 emails to the council objecting to the build. He also sent hundreds of photos. He became obsessed and this is where it all started from.

'He refused to accept our offers to settle this, and we had no choice but to defend ourselves in court. We do feel we have been let down by the courts.

'I do not know where we go from here. We would not be able to sell the house and who would want to buy it living next door to someone like that.

'He has taken photos of us and even complained about that we look into his property from a velux window. There is no way we can even see his house from the window, but he is obsessed.'

The argument was brought initially to Chelmsford County Court and then three times before High Court judges with the Hortons losing each time - and their legal bills mounting up each time.

This left the Hortons this year ordered to pay the Orchards' costs of the trial which tallied up to an estimated £145,000, and face having to demolish the retaining wall protecting their home.

The Hortons were also instructed to cover the costs of further applications in the case, along with £35,000 in damages, on top of their own legal bills - estimated at as much as £100,000.

At the High Court Mr Justice Miles pleaded with the Hortons to give up their legal fight after their lawyer told him they could not afford to pay as their only income is from a small state pension each.

Dismissing their latest application, he said: 'They must face up to the fact that the boundary is where the judge has ordered. There must be an end to litigation.'

But when MailOnline visited the troubled road, we found Mr Horton had no intention of heeding this warning.

Instead Mr Horton maintains that he has done nothing wrong, and that he built the new two-bedroom house on the original footings of the garage.

He maintains his neighbour got a surveyor to effectively re-draw the boundary line and disputes that he has staged a mini land grab.

'I had no choice but to go through all of this because he has not been truthful.'

And he was adamant he did not have the means to pay the huge bill: 'We don't have the money so will not be paying.'

He said four years ago after a High Court hearing a judge recommended they seek mediation, he had offered to split the disputed strip of land with the Orchards, adding: 'He did not want to do any of that so we continued with the court cases.'

And we found Mr Orchard is similarly unwilling to compromise.

He said he had spent his entire life savings fighting the case – with numerous court judgements all in his favour.

Describing Mr Horton as the 'neighbour from hell', Mr Orchard told MailOnline:'We never wanted any of this, but their attitude from the start has been obscene and one of complete arrogance that they were right.

'Even though the courts have sided with us as we are in the right, they refuse to accept the ruling.

'They are the definition of neighbours from hell.'

Mr Orchard said and his wife Carolyn, 61, are determined to collect the money they are owed.

Their legal bill is £200,000 while the Hortons have run up at least half that amount.

He went on: 'They might claim they do not have the money, but they sold their house for £815,000 so they do have the money even after building their smaller home.

'We have had nothing to do with them since this all started in 2019. The courts have ruled in our favour, but they just refuse to accept that.'

During building works the Hortons are alleged to have cut down trees on Mr Orchard's side of the boundary line running alongside the two homes.

Mr Orchard claimed they were too close to his land.

Despite losing a Chelmsford County Court hearing that a retaining wall in the construction was 16 inches too close to the Orchard property Mr Horton refused to back down.

Over the following five years the two warring couples have been involved in High Court hearings, appeals and police have even been called out several times to the neighbours.

The Orchards currently have an injunction against the Hortons stopping them from squaring off their small back garden at the new build. A plastic red fence has been installed by the Hortons to identify what part of the land is theirs.

Outside the property a metal stake surrounded by a painted white circle signifies the boundary line.

The Orchards moved into their home in 1999 while the Hortons demolished a smaller bungalow to build their dream home in 2006.

The dispute began in 2019 when work started on the demolition of their detached garage.

Planning enforcement teams from Chelmsford Council ordered the Hortons to carry out remedial work when the boundary dispute arose.

They refused and the lengthy and costly court battle began.

Over six years the neighbours have been back and forth to the county court and High Court – with judges backing the Orchards all the way.

Mr Horton was urged at one hearing to drop the case – but has continued the fight.

The Orchards had moved into their home in 1999 while the Hortons demolished a smaller bungalow next door to build their dream home in 2006.

It was only after they decided to downsize, sell their home and build a two bedroom property on the site of their garage that the row exploded.

Mr Horton and his estate agent wife Kathleen said they do not have the money to pay the legal bill and insisted they will not be moving.