AN OBSESSION which has split a village for five years and left a Gwent man owing £30,000 in legal costs ended in crown court yesterday.

But Arthur Edwin Turner-Thomas, 43, (pictured) says even that will not stop his battle to keep a tiny strip of land in Commercial Street, Pontnewydd, near Cwmbran, as a wildlife area despite the fact that neighbours claim it is a right of way.

Yesterday, a judge at Cardiff crown court fined him £100 and ordered him to pay a further £2,400 in costs.

Turner-Thomas, a site manager, was said to have ruined himself financially, and divided the local community as he devoted himself to an obsession with the area of common land which he wrongly believed was his own.

Turner-Thomas admitted failing to comply with the provisions of an enforcement notice. But after the hearing yesterday, he told the Argus he is determined not to give way and that he would be appealing against the latest costs.

And he added that he still believes the land belongs to him.

Unless they see common sense it will continue. I wont give way, Turner-Thomas vowed.

Were still maintaining the land and planting there, were just waiting for the autumn so we can start again.

Its been an education into the legal system and Ive lost approximately two years of work.

Its caused a great deal of stress to other members of my family. In that respect Im a little tougher and it bounces off my shoulders, but it does take its toll.

In court, Recorder Stephen Hopkins QC, described the case as desperately sad.

He said: A decent man with an obsession has brought himself to a ruinous state and it appears the obsession goes on. Obsessions, whatever their form, can become ruinous things.

Leighton Hughes, prosecuting, said Turner-Thomas, put fencing on the land in November 2000 which is now in a state of decay.

After complaints, an enforcement notice was served on Turner-Thomas ordering him to stop using the land as a garden, to remove all fences and gates, all shrubs, trees and rocks deposited there and to resurface it with topsoil.

He appealed against this order which was dismissed and he was given 60 days to obey it but five months later an inspector found nothing had been done, said Mr Hughes. Andrew Davies, defending, said he pleaded guilty despite difficulties in accepting that he was wrong.

He has always believed he lawfully owns the land.