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A couple have admitted common assault on their neighbour by turning a hosepipe on him in a long-running dispute.
Barry and Hellynne Lee, both aged 72, sprayed Harold Burrows with water as he was clearing up debris that washed into his garden from their pathway in June.
Magistrates at Llandudno, Conwy county, were shown footage of the incident which Mr Burrows had caught on camera.
The couple were given a 12-month conditional discharge.
They were also each ordered to pay £170 costs.
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Andrew Price
Barry and Hellynne Lee arriving at court on Friday
Prosecutor Julia Galston said it was a “nasty assault” and that there had been a “number of difficulties with the Lees” over the years.
Robert Vickery, mitigating, said the neighbours used to be friends but there had been a dispute about land and the Lees now planned to move.
“On this day Mr and Mrs Lee were doing what they have done for many years, hosing down their driveway and pathway,” he said.
“But because of the lie of the land, water has the habit of going downhill and water containing some of the crud has gone under the fence panel.”
Mr Vickery said Mr Burrows, a retired ambulance service regional staff officer, came out to brush up the debris, while carrying his camera.
He was then sprayed with water, first by Mrs Lee and then by her husband.
“This is certainly, in my nearly 40 years’ experience, the first time I have ever dealt with an assault by water from a hosepipe,” said Mr Vickery.
The couple, from Cae Fron, Denbigh, were both given a two-year restraining order banning communication with their neighbours, except through a third party, during Friday’s hearing.
Court chairman Robert Bradley said they had not been ordered to compensation “because we feel it would antagonise the situation”.
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