Accidently damaged a neighbours bramble

[user1471541408]

Any advice? I was having a new fence installed on my side in front of my neighbours fence. Her fence had some damage to a panel and my landscaper fixed it. They also removed some roots from a bramble (on my side but the bramble is hers). The bramble has now been quite badly damaged. It's huge and about half of it has been killed. I didn't do it intentionally and I've apologised profusely. I've offered to pay for her to have the bramble removed and replaced with plants of her choosing. I didn't ask her if I could fix her fence because I just didn't think about it. It's the back of her garden and she can't see it. I know this was stupid now.

She has accused me of deliberately breaking her fence to destroy her bramble as well as putting down weedkiller. I have photos of the damaged fence to show I didn't damage it. I didn't put down weedkiller and I certainly didn't intentionally danger her bramble.

She's indicating criminal damage and trespass and I'm under the impression she is getting legal advice/wants to press charges. Not sure what else I can do. Anyone else had similar experience?

DH keeps attacking them and they grow back even faster. Hoping I can get at least a crumble from them!

A bramble is a weed. Not necessarily. She may have been cultivating it for fruit. And there are many commercial varieties of bramble for sale.

It has very very nasty thorns so has gone totally wild. Nasty thorns is no proof of wildness!

If she does go the legal route, see if your house insurance includes legal cover.

@MereDintofPandiculation

If she does go the legal route, see if your house insurance includes legal cover.

Will do. Thank you. Very good suggestion.

It's crazy, isn't it? If you are concerned it might be worth checking out your position. You can get free legal advice online at free solicitor advice.Good luck.

And thanks everyone. As I've said, I've apologised and offered to sort out to the best of my ability.

Waaaay back [I'm very old] my parents grew a blackberry called Himalayan Giant.
You would have had a right job to kill any of that one, OP!!!

I think the OP is in the best position to tell if it is growing wild or has been cultivated. I doubt if even a cultivated blackberry can be killed that easily.

To clarify, it was possibly planted years ago but I've been living here for 10 years and it's never been anything other than basically left to its own devices. I've not noticed any significant pruning or managing of any of either this bramble or the rest of her garden along the boundary. I'm not home all the time (obviously) but the berries don't ever seem to be collected that I can tell. They may be and it may be very well managed her side but it would not appear so. Notwithstanding that, I still feel bad that it's been damaged and I'm happy to fix it to the best of my ability. You have all made me feel a bit better than I'm doing what I can and bring reasonable so thank you. I'm leaving the thread now as I have my day job to do!

I'm happy to send her a lorry load of brambles is she needs some more. I wouldn't worry they're impossible to kill, ( see the bramble thread), they'll be back, double the size in a couple of weeks

Honestly she is being a numpty.
Brambles are almost impossible to kill and a weed to boot.
You could get her a cheap replacement if you were feeling nice or just ignore her.

Make sure you've got a copy of your offer to pay for it to be fixed, and make sure you send her the contractor's details too - ie send her an email so there's a paper trail, or send her a letter by registered post - and then do nothing. She's bonkers, it wouldn't be a criminal case, the most she could do is small claims and they'd just say 'she's offered to pay for it to be fixed, jog on.' And you have the right to deal with roots that creep onto your own boundary.

She's flipping bonkers though, DP would kiss your feet if you managed to get rid of any of our brambles, it's a constant battle because I won't let him use weed killer