- EXCLUSIVE: Daniel Hill spent £18K on plots in Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire
- The 41-year-old now claims to own two plots of land and a sliver of lawn
A star of reality TV show Storage Hunters grinned as he axed a beloved tree in a village where he has been accused of holding residents to ‘ransom’.
Daniel Hill, 41, was accused of secretly buying up plots in Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire, for £18,000 and then charging neighbours £30,000 to park outside their homes.
Mr Hill – known as ‘Dapper Dan’ on the popular show – has denied doing anything wrong.
But now he has enraged locals further by felling a cherry tree loved by neighbours on the Badcock Road housing estate and was seen smirking for cameras as his workmen chopped up the tree.
Residents had tried to stop them by chaining their bikes to the trunk, but it was felled anyway.
A silver birch on the piece of land, which locals say has always been a designated tree planting area, where the local children play, is expected to be felled by Mr Hill later in the week.
‘On the original plans for the estate the land was a tree planting area. The developers tried to build there in 2002 but didn’t get permission and it has been left alone ever since,’ said a spokesman for the local Residents’ Group, Libra.
‘The residents are all absolutely devastated that this has happened and many have been in tears. A lot of our children and grandchildren have enjoyed playing there over the years.’
The self-styled businessman, from Norfolk, who was dressed in a flat cap and brown jacket, acquired the unused plots of land last month at an auction of assets of the original estate developer who had gone into liquidation.
But residents were unaware the sale was even happening.
Mr Hill, who appeared in all five UK series of Storage Hunters from 2014 to 2016 as a ‘main buyer,’ now claims that he not only owns two plots of land, but a sliver of lawn inside a garden and the rights to who uses the public road.
He wanted residents to pay him £576 a week for the right to park outside their own homes in spaces, which they have previously been using for free, but Cambridgeshire County Council has now put a stop to this.
It is also claimed he has demanded £190,000 ‘compensation’ from an elderly couple to forfeit his right to develop on one of the plots, where they have been growing a hedge and willow tree since the 1970s.
Shortly after the auction, Mr Hill visited the estate and began cutting down the silver birch, which opponents where planning to obtain a Tree Preservation Order to protect it.
Mr Hill claims he was simply ‘clearing the land’ in the pretty village near Grantchester just outside Cambridge.
He later spray painted yellow lines on the street to show the land which he owns and where he wants to charge residents to park.
A group of residents have offered him £40,000 to buy one piece of land from him, but he is said to of refused. The second unused plot of land was incorporated into the garden of an elderly couple decades ago.
Last week Mr Hill locked their garden gate with a padlock and marked off his ‘property’ with yellow paint and ear-marked the mature willow tree for felling.
He also erected a sign, threatening the homeowners with criminal prosecution if they went into their own garden.
But Hill was then arrested by Cambridgeshire Police on suspicion of criminal damage and breaching the peace, when residents complained about his heavy-handed tactics. He was later released without charge.
Chartered Accountant Jonathan Wheeler explained: ‘The original developer MJ Shanley Ltd went bust and their assets were sold at auction. This included these plots of land in Badcock Road.
‘Hill bought them for about £18,000, including fees.
‘He told us that he wants to build houses on them. But these plots of land don’t have planning permission and they are unlikely to get it.
‘So the residents got together and we made a fair offer to buy the land from him. We offered him £40,000.
‘But he refused our offer. He said the plots of land were worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and that he had the right to charge us £30,000-a-year each to park our cars in the street.
‘It’s completely outrageous. He says it’s not about the money. But he is trying to hold us to ransom. So the residents have got together and we are going to fight back.’
In a statement he told MailOnline: ‘We have always wanted to live in Cambridge[,] we saw a plot of land for sale online valued at £2,000 which included to [sic] potential building plots, roads, paths and a parking area.. We bought the land for £12,000.
‘Before purchasing the land we did all the checks and found that their [sic] were no restrictions and in fact there was a planning polices [sic] that actually promoted development in the village.
‘I have not held anyone to ransom, intimidated nor threatened anyone [,] all I have done is purchase land that was for sale.’
Land property deeds have also revealed that Hill now owns a small sliver of land that Steve Dawson uses as part of his garden.
But the businessman is refusing Hill’s demand for compensation.
Businessman Steve Dawson told MailOnline: ‘I’m not going to give in to ransom. He can have this strip of land if he wants. I’ll just move the fence.’
Maintenance contractor Paul Munro explained: ‘We first became aware of Mr Hill one Monday morning last month. He had turned up with a chain saw and started cutting down the tree.
‘This is a designated tree planting area.
‘This is also where the children play. He is totally out of order.’
Mr Hill appeared in Storage Hunters in which experts sell the contents of abandoned storage units to the highest bidders, who in turn hope to discover lost treasures.
He gained a small following from the Dave network show with his catchphrase; ‘I’ll have some of that!’.
The show ran from 2014 until 2016 and was broadcast on the Dave digital channel.
But after the show closed Mr Hill was convicted in 2018 of running an illegal dump on green-belt land in Surrey. He was fined £2,500 and order to pay a further £26,814.75 in a confiscation order.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.