A man convicted of cutting a clematis during a long-term dispute between neighbours has lost his appeal.

Clive Senior, 24, of Kinmel Bay, Denbighshire, was told his criminal damage conviction will stand.

At Mold Crown Court he was also told to pay another £275 in costs and an extra £100 compensation to the plant owners.

Senior, who had received a conditional discharge for the offence, said he had acted to protect a friend's bungalow in Towyn, in Conwy county.

The court heard that Senior had admitted snapping off parts of the plant and leaning over the wall to pull bits which had grown through holes in the wall.

Senior said that the strands of Clematis - known as mile-a-minute because of its spectacular growth - caused his friend's dog to bark.

But he had denied using any implement or cutting the main section.

He and Nicholas Turner, 22, had denied a joint charge of causing criminal damage at Denbighshire magistrates. Mr Turner had been cleared.

But Recorder Nic Parry, sitting with magistrates, said that did not remotely come within the defence of protecting property.

BBC News