The top legal adviser to the European Court of Justice yesterday backed the claim of a Cypriot man to receive compensation from a British couple who built a holiday home on land he had been forced to leave after Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974.

Proposals by the advocate general are not binding but are usually adopted by the European Court. Adviser Juliane Kokott said Linda and David Orams should be bound by a Cypriot court ruling ordering them to give up their home. “A judgment of a court of the Republic of Cyprus must be recognized and enforced in other (EU) member states, even where it relates to land in northern Cyprus,” she said. A Nicosia court ruling in 2005 ordered the Orams to demolish their villa and pay damages. The original land owner, Meletios Apostolides, appealed for the order to be enforced by a British court, which sent the case to the European Court.