Lottery winner loses fortune for blocking public footpath

A Postcode Lottery winner will have to part with a chunk of his money for blocking a public footpath next to his Gloucestershire mansion.

Mark Skuse erected fences and put up signage to stop dogs jumping in his pool and pooing in the garden of his £1.25 million home in Lower Marton.

After complaints from neighbours, South Gloucestershire Council ordered the 53-year-old in May last year to reopen the path.

Ignoring the pleas, the businessman was then summoned to Bristol Magistrates Court on Monday where he was found guilty of obstructing the public right of way, contrary to Section 137 of the Highways Act 1980.