A RETIRED army officer involved in a bitter dispute with a Hereford solicitors' firm will be powerless to prevent his 15-bedroom mansion being sold to pay his legal bill.

Capt Edmund Carlisle, aged 79, may even be prevented from attending the auction when his property is sold.

Bailiffs seized Caynham Court, near Ludlow, last September after Capt Carlisle refused to pay a solicitors' bill of £691 following a dispute over a leased car.

He has been refused permission to appeal against the sale, and is now faced with the prospect of losing the mansion, which he believes is worth £350,000, for as little as £150,000.

The saga dates back to April 1995, when Capt Carlisle says he instructed Hereford solicitors T A Matthews to act on his behalf in a claim against a Bromyard car dealer and Barclays Bank.

He says he was supplied with a Range Rover found to be three years older than represented, and claims he instructed Geoffrey Shore, a partner in the firm, to act for him in person.

But Capt Carlisle, of Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire, says the case was passed on to a junior in the firm without his permission, who dropped the case when Barclays Bank pointed out she had represented them at an interlocutory hearing.

He refused to pay T A Matthews' bill, and has now run up £20,000 costs. The solicitors' firm was granted permission to seize and sell the Grade II listed building to pay the bill.

At Worcester County Court today, Capt Carlisle will discover what reserve price will be put on his Shropshire property when it is auctioned.

Leominster estate agent William Jackson wants to set the reserve at £150,000, claiming damp and dry rot have affected the mansion's value.

He told the court on Friday that a higher reserve price would deter people from bidding.

"Unless we put a realistic reserve price on it, we could jeopardise the sale itself," he said.

"We would love it to make more, but it would be optimistic."

He also asked Judge Coles to bar Capt Carlisle from the auction, saying any demonstration would deter bidders.

Capt Carlisle said it would not be in his interests to disrupt the auction.

"I'm opposed to the whole process, but I wouldn't want to disrupt it. I just want it conducted in the full light of publicity," he said.

Judge Coles will fix the reserve price today, as well as deciding whether to ban Capt Carlisle from the auction.