'MY ISLAND HOME HAD VANISHED' Owner wins claim on hotelier.

Byline: AODHAN O'FAOLAIN

FILM-maker Neville Presho went abroad for six years - and when he came back, his house had vanished.

But angry Mr Presho knew who to blame when his beloved holiday home on Tory Island, Co Donegal, turned into a car park - the only man on the island with a JCB.

And now he's due a new one, or as much as it was worth, a judge ruled yesterday.

Mr Presho, 61, a film-maker from Holywood, Co Down, bought the house in 1982.

He left for New Zealand in 1988 and when he came back in 1994, it was gone.

Instead, there was a new hotel with a now uninterrupted sea view and a hotel car park where his house once stood.

Mr Presho claimed his 19th-century stone house was deliberately demolished, and brought a High Court action for trespass and physical damage against the hotel, Ostan Thoraigh Comhlacht Teoranta, and its owner Patrick Doohan.

Letterkenny High Court heard the house was damaged by fire in unexplained circumstances on January 14, 1993.

Then it was slowly taken away, piece by piece in the following nine months.

By the time Mr Presho came back from New Zealand in July 1994, there was no trace of it. Mr Justice Murphy accepted it was a strong, long-lasting building.

He said hotel boss Mr Doohan's claim that the property "simply collapsed" a year after the fire because of a storm or mystery people taking stones "lacked credibility".

Photos of the site showed it was probably done with levelling equipment, instead of storm collapse, as did photos of the rubble.

Mr Presho had claimed Mr Doohan had workmen living in the house between 1992 and 1993 even though he never gave permission.

The judge found it was not possible to prove claims Mr Doohan had offered a builder IRpounds 1,000 to demolish the house - a claim denied by Mr Doohan.

And he added the lack of statements from locals over "what should have been obvious to all" was significant. He said while there was a lack of evidence, the house "did not disappear in an instant".

Mr Justice Murphy ruled Mr Presho was entitled to damages for trespass and interference with his property.

He said he was entitled to rebuild it or to be given "a comparable dwelling" on Tory Island, or the market value of a similar house.

He adjourned the matter of which option should be chosen until next October.

CAPTION(S):

PRIDE AND JOY Presho house on Tory in 1988 CAR PARK Open site where Presho house stood