Jailed owner of 'God's land' angers councillor

A man who refused to knock down houses built without planning permission by arguing for 14 years that they were on "God's land" has been criticised for wasting council and court time.

Michael Merrill from Wirswall, Cheshire, has now been jailed for contempt of court, but the houses still stand.

He had been given "multiple opportunities" to comply with orders to demolish the buildings, local councillor James Pearson said.

However, Merrill repeatedly refused, telling legal hearings he had been "instructed by God" to build on the land and "anything built on God's earth is lawful".

During the dispute, he also changed his and his wife's name to Adam with no surname.

In 2025, in his absence, High Court judges sentenced him for contempt of court. He was given 12 months in prison for ignoring demolition notices and injunctions, which dated back as far as 2014 when the houses were built.

Judges at a subsequent appeal hearing, brought by Merrill to contest his sentence, noted he had said he would go to prison "if God told him not to comply with the injunction".

His absence from court meant a warrant had to be issued for his arrest, which took place last month when police took him to HMP Altcourse to serve his sentence.

"This is really quite an unusual state of affairs", said Pearson, Conservative councillor for Wrenbury.

The small collection of buildings on a site known as Six Acres, on Wirswall Road near Whitchurch, were built for Merrill's family and his wife's parents.

A Cheshire East Council decision notice from 2014 had stated the site was "open countryside and an area of Special County Value".

When the authority secured a High Court injunction to order the buildings' demolition in 2022, Merrill had already been found guilty at Chester Crown Court in 2017 of ignoring a council enforcement notice to knock them down.

After Merrill ignored the injunction, the authority issued High Court contempt proceedings against him the following year.

During these hearings, he claimed he could not comply with the injunction because the land was "God's land", although he acknowledged he was the registered proprietor of the site.

He told the court he and his wife were "following God's plan and that anything built on God's earth is lawful and that he therefore cannot be in breach of the order".

Judge Nigel Bird, at the High Court sitting in Manchester, said Merrill believed that "by reason of his faith, he is immune from the rules that govern society".

Merrill was handed a prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

"It was suspended to allow him the opportunity to comply with the order, and he still failed to do that," Pearson said.

At an appeal hearing against his sentence in 2024, Merrill argued there was no land named Six Acres as, although that was its postal address, the land is "God's land named Earth".

Merrill argued Judge Bird had failed to consider his faith when passing sentence.

However, the Court of Appeal found his faith should be "the subject of respect" but was "irrelevant to the matters" in the case.

The judges said Merrill's approach had been "irrational and illogical" and his arguments had been "empty and baseless", including that he was "immune from the requirements" of planning regulations and "as a man of faith he somehow stands above the law".

Pearson said: "Whoever you're inspired by, you still have to deal with the law of the land.

"There have been multiple opportunities for him to comply with the orders and he's had his opportunity to make his case to the court.

"The court has made a decision, the court has given an instruction and he's still not complied, which is why he's in prison."

Many neighbours in Wirswall who spoke to the BBC did not want to give interviews, with one saying he wished to keep a "dignified silence" but local people had found the saga "odd".

Gill, a neighbour who did not give her surname, said the prison sentence should serve as "a lesson learned", adding: "Everybody has to abide by the law."

Cheshire East Council said it would "review its position" if the buildings were not demolished.

"This may involve further legal proceedings but, so as not to prejudice any potential future proceedings, the council cannot comment further", a spokesperson said.

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