Millionaire fined £170k for illegally axing 11 trees
A SCRAP metal tycoon who chopped down 11 protected trees to boost the value of his £1.4 million home has been fined £170,000.
David Matthews, 67, took a chainsaw to 100-year-old specimens to increase the size of his back garden and the amount of light it received.
Matthews had ‘full knowledge’ that the trees, which included a mature oak, a beech and sweet chestnuts, were protected by a preservation order, a court heard. Despite this, he cut them down to add an estimated £137,500 to the value of his five-bedroom house.
Now a judge has ordered Matthews to pay back that sum – plus £32,000 in fines and court costs – for adding a ‘considerable advantage’ to his home, which he built after buying a five-acre plot.
Matthews chopped down the trees at his home – called ‘Flambards’ – in Wimborne, Dorset, in February last year.
The trees, on the east side of his land, had been protected by a preservation order made by Poole Borough Council in 2001.
Matthews, a former director Reliance Scrap Metal Merchants – a £2 million business now run by his wife Rosalind – admitted wilful destruction of protected trees.
He had previously been given a warning by the council after he breached a tree preservation order in 2015, Southampton Crown Court heard.
Matthews said he chopped down the trees over fears that falling branches would hurt his grandchildren. But Judge Jane Rowley said there was ‘ overwhelming evidence’ the house’s value had been increased by their removal. The judge also said surveyors found there had been significant changes made to the house following the removal of the trees, which ‘allowed him to enjoy a bespoke property’.
She said: ‘There was more light on the east side of the property, a larger usable garden, which allowed for the terrace to be extended.
‘I found there to be clear evi
‘He knew it was wrong’
dence of substantial improvement as a result of the removal of the trees. There is overwhelming evidence of the increase in value.’
Judge Rowley added: ‘You had full knowledge of the tree preservation order, having previously worked with the council.
‘You were given a clear warning in the past – your actions to cut the trees were criminal.’
Prosecutor Tom Horder said: ‘This was a deliberate act carried out with full knowledge of the preservation order.’ He added that the confiscation of £ 137,500, sought under the Proceeds of Crime Order, did not account for Matthews’ personal enjoyment of more light and space.
Mitigating, Kevin Hill said: ‘Matthews said in his interview that he knew it was wrong to cut down the trees but he’d been impatient – he was an impatient man.
‘He cut down the trees because he was worried about branches falling on an area where the grandchildren regularly play.’
Andy Dearing, team enforcement manager at the council, said: ‘The destruction of the 11 trees subject to a tree preservation order at Flambards was a deliberate act. Mr Matthews has secured a considerable advantage to his property both in terms of light and amenity on the eastern side following the trees’ destruction.’
He added: ‘The Proceeds of Crime Order reflects the financial gain to Mr Matthews and the seriousness with which the court treats these offences.’
Last month, a wealthy homeowner living in neighbouring Canford Cliffs in Poole became the first to be forced to reimburse the value added to his home when he butchered a protected tree.
Samuel Wilson was told he must pay back more than £21,000 – the amount his illegal act added to the value of his £1 million home.
It came after he realised a new Juliet balcony added to the master bedroom of his home was left covered in shade by the 42ft oak tree in his back garden.
He ignored its protected status and ‘virtually destroyed’ it by chopping off 12ft-long branches.