THE OWNER of a cursed mansion, where a millionaire murdered his family before killing himself, has been awarded more than £100,000 in the battle against his cowboy builder.
Kevin Gorski, 44, said he feels he has been “robbed” of his dream house on the macabre site of infamous Osbaston House.
The 16-acre estate in Maesbrook, Shropshire, was the location of the shocking murder-suicide of evil tycoon Christopher Foster.
In 2008, the debt ridden 50-year-old shot dead his wife and daughter, killed their four dogs and three horses, then set their six-bed home ablaze.
Kevin was sold the land at a cut-price of £400,000 in 2014 after the charred remains of the three-story house were finally razed to the ground.
But after pumping in money to build his dream pad, he said a cowboy builder left him with a “death trap” building which could “fall down like a Jenga block”.
After a traumatic motorbike accident in 2008, Kevin used the compensation money to buy the estate in the rolling green countryside bordering Wales.
While many said they were scared by the house’s morbid past, the former farm worker was ready to move past it and build his dream house, something which would stand the test of time and help others in years to come.
Instead, he has spent the past eight years embroiled in an exhausting battle with a cowboy builder, who left the house with loose exterior stones, leaking walls causing damp and mould and dangerous landings which “could send people flying down the stairs”.
Now, after years of dispute, a judge at Wrexham County Court has awarded him more than £100,000 after finding in his favour against his nightmare builder.
The main issue he was left with, Kevin said, was the loose 60kg coping stones on the exterior corners of the house.
He said he was terrified the heavy stones could fall from height as he claimed the contractor used the wrong mortar and did not ensure they were properly fixed to the wall.
After two of the blocks fell off of the building, Kevin was forced to make emergency repairs to the house to make it habitable.
He told The Sun: “It’s been left in a state with considerable risks for visitors. I had to sort out emergency works on the end of the garages just for building inspectors to sign off the house as complete.
“I had to try and figure out how to do it myself and get it done. Luckily, the repairs I’ve made have stood the test of time, but it’s not my job.”
He said he has been left in a “ridiculous situation”, with hefty legal bills around £80,000 and still suffering from the poor state the house build was left in.
“I’ve only been able to make emergency repairs, so what I’ve done with the coping stones has stopped them from moving, but hasn’t stopped them from leaking water,” he explained.
A furious Kevin added: “Because the coping stones have all separated and split, the stone itself is fine but the mortar has completely failed.
“So the water runs down the coping stone, into the gap next to it and then straight down. It’s causing lots of mould and damp.
“I’ve got several bedrooms with mould and damp growing in them. It’s black spotty mould, the sort of thing you see on TV.”
Not only does he have to tackle significant mould in the home, he said the landings were built at the wrong height, which worries him because “you risk clipping over that and falling directly down the stairs”.
And the nightmare does not end there – Kevin claimed the builder “promised work he didn’t complete” with the roof of the house.
“I’d most definitely describe him as a cowboy builder,” Kevin revealed.
“The drawings and plans were given to him, he designed a different roof and fitted it and charged me for the full-size roof.
“If he had just done things properly, these problems would not have occurred.”
Now, a judge in a civil case heard at Wrexham Crown Court has found in Kevin’s favour – he has been awarded more than £39,000 in damages for the building work and more than £75,000 to cover his legal fees.
When approached by The Sun, Kevin’s builder denied his claims.
But the former farm worker said the eight-year long battle has taken its toll on him.
“It’s taken a vast amount of mental capacity that I really can’t spare and shouldn’t have to spare,” he said.
“With brain damage, everything is harder than it should be anyway.”
In the devastating motorbike crash which gave him the money to buy the property, Kevin also sustained a smashed ribcage, punctured both lungs and his spine was pushed up into the bottom of his skull.
He bought the land because he wanted to build something “for whoever came in the future”.
Now, though, he feels disappointed, adding: “If I die now, then other people have got to sort out and deal with these problems, which is very unfair.”
He took on the site, with its dark history, even when many others insisted the land was cursed.
Psychotic Foster shot his wife Jill, 49, and daughter Kirstie, 15, when his oil firm went bust in a crime which shocked Britain. Both were blasted as they slept, a coroner found.
Police said Foster went on a rampage rather than face bailiffs coming to repossess his country pile over £4m debts.
An inquest held in 2009 heard he had been suffering from depression, and had told his GP he was having suicidal thoughts.
The estate was left on the market for years with no takers because of its grisly history.
But Kevin said he wanted to rebuild the site to help the local community move on from the tragedy.
In the past he has had to deal with visitors fascinated by the site’s macabre history.
Sometimes he has returned home to find strangers waiting at the gates, hoping to get a glimpse of the “murder mansion”.
Kevin added: “They seem to be fascinated that three people died in what was a relatively quiet place.
“A neighbour was renting out a home on Airbnb and he was having ghost hunters come in there as well at some point.”
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