£80k bill for retiree who killed tree to boost value of his home
A ‘VeRY arrogant’ homeowner who killed a protected tree after it prevented him landing a lucrative property deal was yesterday ordered to pay £80,000.
Retired accountant Robert Page, 71, formed an ‘irrational dislike’ of the 65ft Monterey pine and was ‘determined’ to destroy it, a court heard.
he stood to make £100,000 from a deal which involved cutting down the tree but planning permission was repeatedly refused, with the ‘public amenity value’ of the evergreen cited as a reason.
The 65-year-old pine, which was made subject to a tree preservation order in 1989, also cast a large shadow over Page’s £900,000 home near Poole harbour, Dorset.
Salisbury Crown Court was told that he arranged to have drill holes made in the trunk and a deadly herbicide was poured inside in 2016. Concrete was also poured around the roots to ‘choke’ the tree of oxygen. Two years later, after the Monterey had withered and died, council tree officers discovered it had been sabotaged. Page was overheard to say to his wife: ‘Don’t tell them anything!’ The court was told the father-oftwo’s actions had also put his neighbour’s property at risk and the tree eventually fell on to the roof of a garage block during Storm Arwen last month. he was found guilty of breaching the preservation order with intent to destroy the tree following a four-day trial where he claimed a vigilante had come on to his property and killed it.
Judge Robert Pawson, sentencing, fined Page £50,000 – for the amount his property has risen in value because of the loss of the tree – and £5,000 to cover compensation to the public. he was also ordered to pay £25,000 court costs.
The judge said: ‘The evidence showed there had been a determined effort to kill the tree. That tree cast a literal shadow over your house and garden.
‘Now that tree casts a metaphorical shadow over you and your family.
‘You lied throughout the trial and you sought to pull wool over the eyes of the jury and to deceive them at every turn.
‘You were also very arrogant and posed a significant risk to your neighbours [by killing the tree].’ Mark Ruffell, mitigating, said Page had received hate mail and had since planted a replacement tree on his property.