Farmer defeated

Ramblers were celebrating yesterday after a farmer who blocked rights of way with electric fencing and a manure heap was given a pounds 4,000 court bill.

John Gooderham, 56, was fined pounds 500 and ordered to pay pounds 3,500 costs after being found guilty of two charges of obstructing rights of way on his farm near Stowmarket, Suffolk. Magistrates at Bury St Edmunds decided he had "flagrantly disregarded the rights of countryside users".

The Ramblers Association hailed the ruling as "significant".