Childminder bans kids from garden due to 'dangerous' trees

A SOUTH London childminder is locked in a dispute with a company owned by a millionaire Labour party donor about trees overhanging her back garden.

- By ROBERT FIRTH

Cathy Erskine claims she has been asking AA Homes, owned by Anwar Ansari, to remove several trees on land backing onto her property since last November, when she claims a branch from one of them crashed into her garden and destroyed a shed during a storm.

But despite Ms Erksine’s repeated attempts to get the firm owned by Ansari, who has previously donated £20,000 to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, to remove the trees, she claims they are still overhanging her garden five months later.

Fearful that branches could fall at any time, the 61-year-old says she has reluctantly banned children she looks after from using her garden until the overhanging trees are removed.