Man smashed scaffolding pole over neighbour’s head in row sparked by a shed

A drunk man took a knife and a scaffolding pole before breaking into his neighbour’s home and attacking him – over an argument about a shed.

CCTV footage showed Shane Berry, 53, scaling a fence with a knife and pole before forcing his way into father-of-two Mark Taylor’s home in Exminster, Devon.

Berry began hitting Mark’s head repeatedly with the pole and tried to ‘stab him in the kidneys’, he recalled.

Mark said he managed to get his hand in the way of the blade to save himself, but suffered major head and thumb injuries as his family cowered elsewhere in their home for safety.

Berry, 53, has now been jailed for six years at Exeter Crown Court after admitting GBH wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon.

Speaking after the case, Mark said they had fallen out with their neighbours about sheds – but the attack came out of nowhere, after 18 months of no contact.

After the judge told Berry he was ‘lucky’ not to be facing a murder charge and life in prison.

Mark recalled: ‘I truly believed his whole intention was killing me and then going after my wife, but for some reason, after he attacked me, he decided to leave her alone.’

Mark said they had previous petty squabbles with Berry and his elderly mum, but things became more serious when Mark was denied permission for a shed in his front garden.

He raised a complaint with Teign Housing over ‘double standards’ when his neighbours put up a bigger one and refused to take it down.

Mark said this is when Berry first got violent, ‘ripping a fence post’ with concrete attached and throwing it over their fence.

He said nothing was done by the police, and it was swept under the carpet until other instances of verbal abuse led to the CPO being signed in November 2023 to keep the peace by Mark, his wife, Shane and his mother.

‘We fell out over sheds nearly two years ago. But there is never any justification for such horrific violence. It was a neighbour dispute that we had fully believed had been settled,’ Mark said.

Mark said after Berry scaled the fence, he screamed, ‘I’m going to kill those two f***** two fat c****.’

His wife began to lock the door, but before she could reach the front, Berry barged through the door and attacked Mark.

After Mark grabbed the knife, he recalled: ‘Berry did a twisting motion with the knife as I think he thought he had inserted the blade and was trying to cause as much damage as possible.

‘He went back to my wife, who was cowering in the kitchen, who pleaded with him to leave us as we had one of our children upstairs.’

Berry left the scene as Mark’s son, who was hiding, dialled 999. Berry was arrested minutes later, screaming he had ‘done nothing wrong’.

Mark suffered two massive lacerations to his head that took 24 staples to close, and also required multiple stitches in his thumb.

‘I am not the same person I was. Before I could happily go out and do things and even though he is now locked up, I am still scared of my environment,’ he explained.

Amanda Nicholls, Director of Customer and Communities at Teign Housing, said: ‘We take all reports of anti-social behaviour extremely seriously, and have a specialist team to manage cases intensively.

‘In this case, we worked closely with the police and others to support what has been a complex situation. Our work saw a two-year community protection warning issued as an example of the robust actions we have taken to dissolve tensions.

‘We welcome the court outcome and hope that it supports residents to enjoy their homes. We will continue to offer support to Mr and Mrs Taylor.’

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