A 21 year old man from Morecambe has been fined ?500 for chopping down a silver birch tree without a licence and obtaining services by deception.

Both offences were admitted by Benjamin William Loveridge of Oxcliff Road in the town.

Howard Caine reports:

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Loveridge was arrested at the Sea Terminal on March 28th as he was about to leave the Island in a van.

The court heard the defendant was arrested following reports that men were travelling the north of the Island telling people that trees needed to be chopped down, and he took a silver birch tree down at a house on Ormley Estate in Ramsey. He charged the house owner ?200.

Any tree over 15cm in diameter requires a licence to be felled, but the tree that was cut down measured 22.5 centimetres.

The defendant and another man stayed at the Queen's Hotel in Laxey and left without paying their bill. The defendant's advocate said Loveridge thought his friend had paid the bill, which had now been settled with the hotel.

Mr Moyle imposed sentence of seven days for the deception