The Lord of the Stings!
Great-grandson of Tolkien sprayed with weedkiller in garden row with neighbour
THE great-grandson of Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien was sprayed with weedkiller in his face amid a long-running dispute with his neighbour, a court heard yesterday.
Movie producer Royd Tolkien, 5 , was left with stinging eyes and blurred vision after the attack by 8 -year-old Ivor Hopkins.
Mr Tolkien, who appeared in two of the Lord of the Rings films made by director Peter Jackson, had spotted Hopkins spraying weedkiller near the boundary between their country homes. He decided to watch in case Hopkins ‘sprayed any of the liquid on
‘He just wants to move on’
his plants’ said prosecutor Neil Catherall and began a video recording on his phone when he believed his own plants had been hit.
Mr Catherall said: ‘He went over to the wall and as he pointed the camera up, Hopkins sprayed him with the liquid.’
Tolkien was ‘shocked’ by what had happened, Mr Catherall said. Hopkins offered no apology. By the next day Mr Tolkien’s eyes were better, but he made a complaint to police.
Hopkins told officers he believed the wind must have blown some of the weedkiller on to Mr Tolkien. He insisted it hadn’t been done on purpose.
Hopkins, of Sychdyn, North Wales, appeared at Mold Magistrates’ Court where he was due to stand trial for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. But the court heard he had ‘a change of heart’, admitting the less serious charge of common assault.
Simon Simmons, defending, said the incident had arisen against the background of a ‘long running dispute’ between the neighbours. He said Mr Tolkien had many cameras pointing at his client’s property and that being filmed was ‘quite intimidating’ for him.
‘He (Hopkins) just wants this over and done with and to move on,’ Mr Simmons added. The court gave Hopkins a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £ 50 costs, as well as a £22 victim surcharge.
Mr Tolkien appeared in minor roles in 200 film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and 201 production The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. His grandfather Michael was the author’s second son.