Aristocrats who won legal fight to evict sex therapist told to pay her £80,000

A sex therapist who was evicted from her rented Grade II listed home after falling out with her wealthy landlords is now living in a Range Rover with two Great Danes and a chihuahua. 

Patricia Ramshaw, 54, known as ‘Lady Pea’, lost a civil case against Norfolk’s aristocratic Cator family around her occupancy of the Old House in Ranworth, a picturesque site in the Broads village. 

The row centred on a claim she broke the terms of her tenancy agreement by bringing animals onto the site, including four dogs, two horses, pigs, sheep, ducks, and geese. 

She was also accused of letting the animals destroy the gardens around the 300-year-old cottage. 

The row appeared to have come to an end in June, when Lady Pea was evicted from the property. 

But the Cators have now been ordered to pay her £80,000 after failing to respond to a claim she had made. 

Lady Pea lodged her appeal through the Civil National Business Centre, a government body which allows people to make claims for money through the civil courts. 

A letter sent to landlord Sam Cator states he had not responded to a claim made by Lady Pea and orders him to pay her the sum of £80,000. 

But the family’s lawyers have questioned the claim and say he is confident of having it overturned. 

A legal representative for Mr Cator said: ‘Our client is aware of the order. We are concerned about the validity of service of Ms Ramshaw’s claim as it appears that our client was not provided with (and therefore could not respond to) the particulars of the claim. 

‘Accordingly, our client is going to apply to have the order set aside and is confident that this application will succeed.’ 

She revealed she has been fighting the case from her Range Rover, where she has been living with her three dogs since being ordered to vacate the Old House. 

‘I feel like they have done everything they can to destroy me, but I am fighting, and I am surviving,’ she said. 

‘For the last 15 weeks I have been living in my car, but I am warmer than I ever was in that house. 

‘I am really proud of the way I have survived through this awful situation.’ 

The legal battle centres around Lady Pea’s tenancy of the Old House, which she moved into in November 2021 after paying a year’s rent up-front. 

The Cator family, who count among their ancestors a Tory peer and a sister-in-law of the Queen Mother, had been trying to evict her since January 2022. 

Lady Pea argued the property was not fit for rental, due to it lacking heating and having an energy rating of zero. 

The Cators argued she had broken the terms of her tenancy by bringing more than 20 animals onto the site – some of which lived in the house with her and others that shared the land. 

During the hearing, several bizarre accusations were exchanged between the warring parties. 

These included an allegation that Jane Cator, a deputy lieutenant of Norfolk, had spied on Lady Pea from a nearby church tower. 

Mrs Cator admitted she would frequent the tower but denied that she was spying on their then tenant. 

The tribunal ruled in the Cators’ favour, but the judge criticised both sides for the way the case had unfolded. 

Judge Stephen Evans said: ‘These proceedings provide a salutary lesson for those prospective landlords and tenants who embark on entering into a tenancy without defining the ambit of the demise, and without agreeing to all relevant terms of the tenancy before occupation is taken up.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.