This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7654602.stm

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Sacked gardener 'poisoned' plants Ex-worker 'killed judge's plants'
(about 1 hour later)
A disgruntled gardener poisoned a retired High Court judge's plants and lawn when he sacked him for feuding with his wife, a court has heard. A gardener who was sacked by a retired High Court judge returned to his former employer's £1.5m house to spray weed-killer on flowers, a court has heard.
Edward Hancock, 45, is accused of spraying weed-killer on Sir Richard Tucker's garden in Worcestershire. Edward Hancock denies causing criminal damage in Sir Richard Tucker's garden in Stanton, Worcestershire, in May.
It followed a long-running "clash of egos" with horticulturalist and garden designer Lady Jacqueline. Gloucester magistrates were told how Mr Hancock, 45, had been involved in a "clash of egos" with Sir Richard's horticulturalist wife, Jacqueline.
Mr Hancock, from Tewkesbury has denied causing criminal damage to the garden put at £500. He was fired after 20 years through a note on left his van, the court heard.
Sir Richard, 77, who presided over high profile cases like the Polly Peck fraud trial, and his third wife returned from holiday to find their lawn in Stanton had turned orange, magistrates were told. Mr Hancock, from Northway in Tewkesbury, is said to have caused damage to the garden put at £500 after he was sacked in April.
Mr Hancock, of Northway in Tewkesbury, was employed for 20 years before his strained relationship with Lady Tucker boiled over in April this year. There have been times when my wife had said: 'It's either him or me' Sir Richard Tucker
Hancock was fired via a note left on his van after he failed to turn up to work, Gloucester Magistrates' Court was told. Sir Richard, 77, and his third wife Lady Turner had returned from a short break in the south of France to find some of their beloved blooms had been decimated, magistrates were told.
Giving evidence, Sir Richard - who presided over high profile cases including the Polly Peck fraud trial - said Mr Hancock had been a "good country gardener", but was "volatile".
Sir Richard explained to the court that there had been tension between the gardener and Lady Tucker.
"There have been times when my wife had said, 'It's either him or me'."
The former judge continued: "I was astonished and felt very offended that a man who had worked for me for 20 years and claimed to be a professional gardener could have done such a thing, particularly nearing the time when the whole village opens its gardens to the public for charity.
"All the circumstances pointed to one man."
'Common gardener'
During his cross-examination of Lady Tucker, defence solicitor Lloyd Jenkins suggested there had been a "clash of gardening cultures" between she and Mr Hancock.
He said: "You are the expert and, without being patronising, Mr Hancock is the common gardener."
She replied: "That might have been what you are told," but told the court that the real problem was Mr Hancock's refusal to communicate with her.
Kenneth Ryland, a 61-year-old company director who lives nearby, told the court he witnessed Mr Hancock spraying the Tuckers' four acres of land, and grew suspicious because he knew he had been fired.
Mr Ryland, who had also employed Hancock as a gardener until he handed in his notice, told the court: "I said to my wife I think I've just seen Edward Hancock doing something very stupid.
"When I returned to the village after being away I saw the dead plants and dead grass, and put two and two together."
The trial continues.The trial continues.