I built UK’s BIGGEST man cave with cinema & bowling alley but I sold it for £1 to ‘mystery Mexican man’ I’ve NEVER met
A MILLIONAIRE who illegally built Britain’s biggest mancave has explained why he sold it for £1 to a “mystery Mexican man”.
Eccentric Graham Wildin, 70, claimed demolishing the 10,000sq ft monstrosity would cause an “Aberfan-style disaster“.
He sold the block, which sits behind his home in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, for just £1 to a Mexican buyer who allegedly called him up to ask to buy it.
He has now claimed in court he’s no longer responsible for demolishing the building, which went up in 2014 without planning permission.
Wildin, who faced being re-jailed for failing to comply with a judge’s order to knock it down, said this week: “It’s no longer my problem, it’s the end of it as far as I’m concerned.
“I wanted to get rid of it and I have sold it to a Mexican buyer. I know who he is but I’ve never met him, and I have no idea what he is going to do with the place.
“For all I know he may set it up as a Mexican drugs cartel.”
The accountant spoke to The Sun Online in a bid to explain the “bad experience” which saw him serve a six-week prison sentence.
Wildin said he was paid a paltry £1 for his £750,000 backyard sports and leisure complex.
He added: “Good riddance. I offered the property for just a pound because I got an evaluation and it is worth nothing as it is now. It’s all closed up and there is no access to it.
“It should be worth three-quarters of a million but it needs to be knocked down and that would cost half a million.
“When a buyer came forward, I told him ‘You can have it for a quid, mate’.
“He bought it with the land. I own nothing there now.”
He said the situation was “such a shame because it is the best place in the world”.
He claimed that court and council officials targeted him over the controversial build because “they are all jealous of me”.
Wildin said the property was still standing “but you need a helicopter to see it.”
He told how he didn’t want to demolish it because it would be “too dangerous.”
He said: “We dug out 9,500 tons of soil to make the cave and that all needs to be put back. I think it would be too dangerous to do that works.
“Remember the Aberfan disaster? The house is at the front and the cave behind and if all the tons of soil are moved we could have another slip and the house could be gone.”
He referred to the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in Aberfan, Glamorgan, Wales, in October 1966, which killed 116 children from a nearby school and 28 adults.
After his latest court battle he said: “They cannot make me go back to prison. They’ve only got a beef because of their jealousy.”
The grandad claimed the mancave was once loved by the community, despite it causing outrage among neighbours.
He added: “It’s a building in the ground that no one can see and it’s surrounded by walls.
“It was used by the local community and people loved it. There were things for the children to do with a giant soft play areas and 25 dolls houses. But it can’t be used now, it’s all blocked up.”
He hinted that he and family members have since moved out of the home in front of the plot.
Wildin said he had never met the man cave buyer “but I do know his name”.
He added: “Whether he will come over and what he’ll do with it, why should I care?”
He vowed: “I don’t give up. I don’t like to lose.”
The leisure complex is fitted with a bar, bowling area, cinema and even a casino.
He was locked up for contempt of court for failing to comply with a court order to decommission the building.
And he recently lost his latest legal battle after three High Court judges said it was right to jail him for defying court orders.
He was given 18 weeks from the date of his release from prison to comply with a previous court order to make the man cave unusable by “soft stripping.”
At the time, Mr Wildin said that demolishing the man cave would ruin him, costing an estimated £720,000.
He said the buyer read about his case online and offered to buy it.
He also claimed it was mothballed and could not be accessed legally.
Despite his claims, the High Court ruled the ownership revelation should not have any bearing on the existing case as it happened after he was sentenced and jailed.
Wildin was ordered to pay £9,962 in costs and Forest of Dean District Council will now decide whether to pursue the matter further legally.
