A woman was caught on CCTV damaging a neighbour’s tree while wearing her dressing gown.
Julie Bontoft, 55, was seen reaching over the boundary between their homes and snapping off several tree branches.
In another video in which she is fully dressed she can be seen directly at the camera and pulling a face as she lopped off parts of the tree.
The owner of the house where the tree stands later moved away from the area, partly because of the incident, another neighbour claimed.
Now Bontoft, of Beverley Road, Hessle, has been found guilty of criminal damage by Beverley magistrates.
Bontoft had denied the criminal damage charge and claimed the trees were "overhanging her property" but was ultimately handed a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £620 in CPS costs after being convicted, Hull Live reported.
She was found to have damaged six trees to the value of £210 between February 19, 2021 and March 6, 2021, at a hearing at Beverley Magistrates' Court last week.
In a previous hearing, James Byatt, prosecuting, said the neighbour had CCTV footage showing Bontoft reaching over the boundary and snapping off tree branches without lawful excuse.
Bontoft claimed she merely pushed 'overhanging branches' back onto her neighbour's property without breaking off any branches or touching her property.
CCTV footage has since shown Bontoft using a tool to damage the trees that separated their driveways.
The court determined her actions did not amount to simply pruning the trees.
The guilty verdict was welcomed by disgruntled neighbours, who say they have a strained relationship with Bontoft.
One neighbour said: "It was clear from the video she was doing it out of spite and she looked possessed when she looked into the camera.
"These are young trees and she is destroying them. She is just the neighbour from hell and it's good to see her with a criminal record after her behaviour was caught on camera.
"If she causes any more misery in the next 12 months, she will get a harsher sentence, which reassures us that she will think twice before acting out again."
Due to the complainant moving out of her home and away from Bontoft no compensation was ordered, as the trees now belong to someone else.
