A man has pleaded guilty to unlawfully cutting down a tree at his Aldeburgh home last summer.

Russell Abrahams, 62, was sentenced by magistrates after pleading guilty to breaching a 34-year-old preservation order.

Abrahams cut down an oak tree in the garden of his home in Thorpe Road, Aldeburgh.

On August 22 last year, East Suffolk Council visited the address after receiving reports of an unlawful tree felling.

While Abrahams had applied for tree work in December 2022, this application did not cover the healthy oak tree which was axed.

Abrahams appeared before magistrates on June 19 and was fined £5,500 for the unlawful tree felling, as well as being told to pay £1,302 in prosecution costs and a £2,000 statutory charge. 

He has also been ordered to plant a replacement tree.

Rachel Smith-Lyte, East Suffolk's cabinet member for the environment, said: "While this wasn’t a case of deliberate negligence, it was reckless and resulted in the destruction of a healthy, maturing, protected oak tree."

An act in place currently prevents anyone from cutting down a protected tree without permission from the local authority.