THE harbour views from an auctioneer’s garden hot tub were cleared when a protected tree was cut down, a court was told.

An uninterrupted sight of Purbeck, Corfe Castle and Poole Harbour could be seen from Neil Davey’s sun loungers after a maritime pine was felled in the night in a neighbouring garden, a council officer told Bournemouth Crown Court.

Andy Dearing, enforcement office for Poole council, said he went to visit a garden in Heavytree Road in Poole the day after residents had been woken by a motor being turned on at 2am and a “bang” as the tree hit the ground.

Mr Dearing, a former Metropolitan Police Officer, said he “followed a trail” from the garden to Davey’s property in Inverclyde Road.

“I saw the recently erected sun lounger and hot tub and saw where the tree had stood and saw they had uninterrupted views of the Purbecks and Corfe Castle which would otherwise be blocked by the trees,” he said.

Poole Council had imposed a tree preservation order to cover gardens in Heavytree Road and Inverclyde Road in 1990, he added.

Davey denies causing or permitting the destruction of a tree.

Matthew Tomlinson, prosecuting for Poole Council, said Davey was away on honeymoon at that time but “paid or otherwise instructed” tree surgeon Thomas McGuire to fell the tree.

Mr Tomlinson said McGuire told police he was in Yeovil in the early hours of June 20, 2010, when the tree went down.

But Mr Tomlinson said he disputed that as McGuire’s phone signal had registered at a mast in Parkstone.

McGuire denies wilful destruction of a tree.

Steve Bransgrove, who was then renting the Inverclyde Road house, told the jury he had gone to bed when he heard a motor and then a “bang”.

“The house shook, everything shook,” he said.

The trial continues.