A court has ordered multi-millionaire landlord Judith Wilson to pay a £166,000 court bill after losing a legal battle against a council over safety work that left her red brick Victorian home a multi-coloured ‘laughing stock’.

Wilson, 73, claims her once elegant home in the village of Wateringbury, Kent, has become an ‘eyesore’ after her local council carried out vital safety repair works on an external wall, removing large sections of brickwork.

The former maths teacher – who’s husband Fergus Wilson, once the biggest private landlord in the country who infamously tried to ban a ‘coloured tenant’ who ‘smelled of curry’ from living in one of his homes – claimed council workers re-inserted the original bricks ‘any old how,’ resulting in an odd multi-coloured effect.

Wilson, who built a £250m property empire alongside husband Fergus, sued Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council for £100,000 over the alleged ‘damage’ done to the façade of the former teashop.

Representing herself in court, Wilson argued the authority was liable to compensate her for breaching its duty of care while contracted to carry out the repair works.

Horatio Waller, the council’s lawyer, said safety had been the overriding priority, stating: “Mrs Wilson accepted the property was in a dangerous condition in 2019”.

He added a risk assessment from November that year pinpointed the building as “likely to collapse – and with the potential consequence of fatalities”.

The judge accepted the council’s case and concluded ‘no duty of care was owed by the authority to the claimant in respect to the building works.

‘The works were carried out to make the building safe – no more,’ he added.

The judge ordered Wilson to pay £106,752 to cover what the council spent on the work, plus interest, with another £60,000 up front towards its lawyers’ bills.