An eco-tycoon and his wife who were filmed destroying a community flowerbed amid a bitter row with his green-fingered neighbours over plans to build a gym at his home has finally settled the case and left the country.
Michael Hodgson, 55, of Gwaenysgor, near Prestatyn, North Wales, was accused of criminal damage listed at a value of £178 in the village of around 230 residents in August last year.
He was caught on camera in a furious rage pulling up of a bed of wildflowers outside his house just 24 hours after they were planted, in footage which quickly went viral.
Hodgson, a wind turbine firm director who formerly worked in the oil and gas industries, had claimed the community planter placed by volunteers encroached on his property.
On Thursday Mold Magistrates' Court was told Hodgson was seen attempting to destroy the planter with power tools while volunteers staged a 'sit-in' to try and prevent its removal.
