Woman faces huge bill after knotweed row

 A pensioner has been told to pay a contractor to clear her land of Japanese knotweed after neighbours sued her for allowing it to invade their garden.

Rosemary Line, 74, also has to pay tens of thousands of pounds in costs after neighbours Adam and Eleanor Smith, of Falmouth, Cornwall, won their case and set a legal precedent at Truro County Court.

The case was decided on the basis that while it is not illegal to have knotweed on land, it is illegal to allow it to spread. Legal experts say home owners must now stop the weed spreading or face the prospect of being sued.