PENSIONER KILLED NEIGHBOUR’S KOI OVER NOISY POND PUMP

Gerry Duffy, a 76-year-old retired builder in Barnet, north London, killed five or six of his neighbour Andreas Ptohides’ koi carp by pouring detergent into their pond, after what he said was lost sleep over koi pond noise. On August 4, 2026, he pleaded guilty to criminal damage and unlawfully destroying fish, and was ordered to pay £565 in compensation, The Sun reported.

Duffy, of Hadley Road, lives in a studio flat that backs onto Ptohides’ six-bedroom semi-detached house, which The Sun said is estimated to be worth more than £1.2 million. The pond sits in that garden, and so does the pump that Duffy kept complaining about.

Oil, cut pipes and then washing-up liquid

The BBC reported that Duffy warned Ptohides he would take matters into his own hands. Prosecutors told the court the warning was: “if you didn’t deal with it, I would.”

Defence lawyer Elliott Stern said the neighbours had talked about it. “They initially said they would stop the water pump going but then turned around and said that’s not good for the fish,” he told the court.

An environmental health officer also got involved, and The Sun reported that the advice was blunt. Duffy could either “move or close his window.”

He did neither. On March 20, 2026, the court heard, he threw motor oil from his window into the pond. Four days later the water pipes feeding it were cut, and Ptohides checked his CCTV and saw Duffy climbing over the fence.

The last attack came on March 26, when Duffy poured detergent into the water. The koi carp that died numbered five or six, Court News UK reported.

A change of plea on trial day

Duffy had denied the charges at an earlier hearing at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on April 14, People reported. He changed his mind on the day his trial was due to start at the same court.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal damage and one count of unlawfully destroying fish, Yahoo News Canada reported. Stern told the court his client had been “driven completely insane by this noise.”

“Out of sheer frustration and lack of sleep, Mr Duffy, out of character, I would say, lost his mind and committed various damages,” Stern said. Duffy himself said he damaged the pump out of frustration and lack of sleep, the BBC reported.

Magistrate Matthew Cornish said the court had heard about Duffy’s health conditions, lack of sleep and remorse, and that he was a man of good character. But he added: “We believe there was some planning, given the incidents occurred over three separate days.”

The Independent reported that Duffy received a two-year conditional discharge. He was told to pay £440 for the pond and £125 for the dead fish, which comes to £565. The magistrates did not order a restraining order or costs, The Sun reported, and Stern asked that the money be paid out of Duffy’s benefits at £20 a month. Duffy said “Thank you” and walked out of the dock.

The story did not end in the courtroom. In a later interview with The Sun, also reported by the Daily Mail, Duffy described what he did. “I hopped over his fence and initially threw things into his pond,” he said.

“I even tried using some Fairy Liquid just to lessen the noise,” he said.

It did not work. Duffy told the paper the pond needed extra tubes afterward, and it was noisier than before.