Buyer beware, judge tells 'house of horror' couple

By:  David Ward

A couple traumatised to discover their home had been the scene of a grisly murder failed yesterday to win compensation from the vendors.

Alan and Susan Sykes were offered sympathy by Lord Justice Peter Gibson, one of the three judges hearing the appeal court case, but were told that the law put no obligation on vendors to disclose the history of a property.

The judges ruled that James and Alison Taylor-Rose, who sold the house to Mr and Mrs Sykes, had not been dishonest when they answered "no" to a questionnaire that asked: "Is there any information which you think the buyer may have a right to know?"

Lord Justice Gibson said the court had to decide the issue as a matter of law. The rule of caveat emptor - the Latin tag for let the buyer beware - still stood and could "work harshly on purchasers".

Mr and Mrs Sykes knew nothing of the gruesome history of the modern detached house - dubbed a house of horror - they bought in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in December 2000 until they watched a Channel Five documentary.

It described how a previous owner had butchered his 13-year-old adopted daughter there, and hidden her body parts around the house and garden. Many have never been found.

"Knowing there were still undiscovered body parts in the house was particularly horrific," said Clive Freedman QC, who represented the couple.

In 1984, Samson Perera, a dental biologist at Leeds University and then the owner of the house, murdered his adopted daughter, Nilanthie.

His trial revealed that she had been brought from a poor Sri Lankan village and used as a slave in his home. Dr Perera buried her body, then dug it up, dismembered it, and hid parts around the house.

He was jailed for life, and his wife, Dammika, a teacher, was also jailed for helping him cover up the crime.

"[Mr and Mrs Sykes] sat and watched [the documentary] in disbelief as the history of the house unfolded before them," said Mr Freedman.

He added that they had immediately moved out of the house and put it up for sale.

They had bought it for £87,000 and eventually sold it for £8,000 less when its market value was said to be £100,000.

Yesterday, the appeal court heard that Mr and Mrs Taylor-Rose knew nothing of the murder when they bought the house in 1998.

They found out only when a neighbour told them its story.

The claim by Mr and Mrs Sykes for damages from Mr and Mrs Taylor-Rose had earlier been turned down by a county court judge, who said the vendors had been under no obligation to tell them about the history of the house.

But Mr Freedman said Mr and Mrs Sykes believed it would not be right to sell the house without informing potential buyers about what had gone on there.

"No one who viewed the property wanted to buy when they learned about the history of the house," he said.

"In fact, so macabre was the history of the house that it made it virtually impossible to sell."

He claimed that the failure by Mr and Mrs Taylor-Rose to reveal the "extremely gruesome facts" amounted to misrepresentation or negligence.

Mr and Mrs Sykes said through their lawyer after the hearing: "We are extremely disappointed by the court's decision but we think it was right and proper to bring this matter to the court of appeal."