A former US film-maker has launched a High Court battle against an English council to gain control of the ancestral stately home he spent seven years trying to save from ruin.
Hopwood DePree has led work to rescue historic Hopwood Hall in Middleton, Greater Manchester, since 2017, and says he complied with an agreement with Rochdale Borough Council that gave him the option to buy the building.
However, the council say he did not fulfil the conditions of the deal, and locked him out in November 2024.
DePree, who published a book called Downton Shabby in 2022 about his efforts to restore the hall, has now taken action in an attempt to be declared its legal owner.