A pensioner is fighting to reclaim land taken from him and his wife by police authorities using squatters’ rights.

The patch of land next to Sussex Police’s Slaugham Manor was handed to the force after they told land ownership officials they had used it without objection for more than 30 years.

However, Mr Blyth and his wife Sylvia, who held the title to the plot which fits about eight parked cars, said they had no idea the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) planned to claim the title by adverse possession until it was too late.

Mr Blyth, 86, who is challenging the decision through his solicitor, said: “I was surprised. I don’t want to go to court or anything but it would be nice to wrap it up.

"I would like some kind of an apology. It is very frustrating.”

A police spokesman said they had received no objections to their adverse possession application to the Land Registry.

The force is now selling the land along with the whole of Slaugham Manor in Haywards Heath.

The land had been used by police as part of a car park since 1976 but Mr Blyth said he discovered in 2011 that it was actually part of his wife’s property, complaining at the time but not pursuing the matter because of seriously declining health.

Mr Blyth said he was only told in August after contacting police that the title for the plot, which is alongside grounds his wife, 80, still owns, had changed hands in May.

Documents show a letter was sent to Mrs Blyth about the adverse possession application in May, but to an old address.

The couple now live in Beckenham, Kent.

Mr Blyth’s solicitor has filed a notice with the Land Registry saying Mrs Blyth should be registered as owner of the land, while a friend of the couple, Dr Ian Mason, has urged the PCC to reverse the “injustice”.

Peter Tyler, Sussex Police estates manager, told The Argus: “Sussex Police purchased Slaugham Manor in 1976 and this included the car park at the front of the building, which has continued in this use since that time.

“Unbeknown to us until recently was that a small part of the car park, around eight spaces, was not included in the title. No attempt has ever been made to claim the land by fencing or otherwise marking the boundary.

“The manor is now being sold and in the process of doing so, it was discovered that this area of land was not within our Land Registry title.

“Having had possession and use of the land for nearly 40 years, we applied to the Land Registry for adverse possession, a process whereby the landowners are contacted by the Land Registry.”

He said the Registry received no objections and “we were duly given title on August 21”.

He added that the force’s solicitors were dealing with the challenge.