Neighbours’ row over plant may cost Britain £1m

A RETIRED businesswoman who was fined £100 (€146.55) for “hacking” back her neighbour’s clematis plant said she believed a series of actions against her have wasted nearly £1 million (€1.47m) of public money.

Jeanne Wilding, 56, was found guilty yesterday of the criminal damage of the plant on a wall between her £500,000 (€732,745) home in the tiny West Yorkshire hamlet of Walsden, and Penny Pratt’s house next door.

Yesterday, the court heard further details of the long running dispute between residents in Walsden which has resulted in a situation where the families involved all watch each other with banks of surveillance cameras.