TWO property developers have been found guilty over the deaths of five protected trees standing in the way of their £11.2 million Sandbanks housing scheme.

Alistair Collier, 41, and Harvey Lee, 66, were convicted of five offences of causing or permitting the trees to be destroyed and will be sentenced at a later date.

The pair bought the land for £4.5 million through their firm Barrington Homes and had planning permission to build two houses at the property in Banks Road, the largest undeveloped site on Sandbanks in Poole.

However, their company was in financial difficulties, and they submitted a further pre-application enquiry to build three homes in June 2010.

They were told it was likely to be refused and within three weeks, between 14 and 18 inches of bark had been cut from three Corsican pines and two Scots Pines.

The 70ft high trees were protected by Tree Preservation Orders and were worth £50,000 each. They will now slowly die because nutrients cannot pass through the bark.

Collier, of Forest Lodge, in Wareham, and Lee, of Burton Road, Poole, had denied the allegations.

Collier claimed that the site was not secure and that vandals could have done the damage. Collier also suggested it could have been done by aggrieved creditors or locals seeking better sea views.

Michael Tomlinson, prosecuting for Poole council, said: “This was done professionally by someone who knew exactly what they wanted to achieve and the extent of damage required to ensure the trees did not survive.”

Andy Dearing, enforcement team manager at Poole Council, said after the case: “This is the worst environmental crime of its kind we have seen in Poole, with the only possible motive being the significant financial gain to the defendants amounting to several millions of pounds.”

Anyone owning or developing the land in the future will have to replace the trees.