A rogue farmer, jailed for hiring diggers and builders to bulldoze a riverside beauty spot, has been hauled back before a court – for illegally felling trees.
John Price, 69, organised for the trees to be chopped down shortly before he was caged for dredging a stretch of the River Lugg near Leominster, Herefordshire.
A judge previously told him he had committed “ecological vandalism on an industrial scale” along the one-mile section of one of Britain’s most important salmon rivers.
The Environment Agency said the damage was one of the worst cases of riverside destruction it had ever seen, which led to a “devastating” effect on local wildlife.
As a result of his actions, Price decimated otter, kingfisher, trout and salmon populations after using an 18-tonne digger to reprofile and strip back the banks in November and December 2020.
The multimillionaire farmer was jailed for 10 months, reduced from 12 months after an appeal, in April last year and served less than three months behind bars.
He was also ordered pay £1.2million in restoration costs after admitting seven charges of environmental damage.
A court has now heard while being prosecuted for destroying the river, he also arranged for contactors to fell a large area of trees at a farm he was taking over.
A section of alder, willow, hazel and thorn trees, which were around 50 years old, were cleared by workmen at Ryelands Farm, in Brimfield, Herefordshire.
He did not have the required licence when the work was carried out between February 14 to 21, 2022 – while awaiting his sentence for the River Lugg offences.
Price, of Kingsland, Herefordshire, admitted felling the trees and was told to pay a total of £2,060 at Hereford Magistrates Court yesterday (Wednesday).
JPs told Price the damage he caused “was regrettable” but spared him a second jail sentence. They also fined him £1,750, ordered him to to pay court costs of £135 and a victim surcharge of £175.
Prosecutor Owen Beale said a total of 41.7 cubic metres was felled but under the Forestry Act 1967, the maximum amount that should be felled is five cubic metres.
The court heard that records showed that no licence had been issued to carry out the work.
Mr Beale said: “Heavy machinery was clearly used and will have a noticeable impact on residents.
“The tree felled provides a habitual corridor and cannot easily be replaced. It will take between 10 and 50 years to establish a tree of this nature. Mr Price must have known what would happen.”
Senior Crown Prosecutor George Ward, of the CPS, said after the case: “John Price earns a living from the land as a farmer but clearly has no real regard for it.
“He has broken the law on two occasions in quick succession and has been sentenced for further offending after a jail term for similar criminality.
“In this latest case, the Crown Prosecution Service successfully argued in court that coppicing wouldn’t require the heavy machinery that was on site.
“What John Price had ordered the men to do was deforestation. When faced with the evidence Price remained silent and entered a guilty plea.
“The care of both agricultural and recreational land is controlled by the law and the CPS works with the Forestry Commission, the Police and other statutory agencies to uphold that law.”
