A civil engineering firm and one of its foremen have been cleared of wilfully damaging four protected trees in Devizes.

Tithegrove Limited, based in Bath Road, Swindon, and Patrick Byrnes, of Akers Way, Swindon, each denied charges of wilfully damaging four trees in a manner likely to destroy the trees.

The four trees are all about 100 years old and are protected by tree preservation orders.

The trees, three horse chestnuts and one lime, are part of an avenue of trees in Byron Road which is on the former Roundway Hospital site in Devizes.

Devizes Magistrates Court heard that two Tithegrove workers were digging around the trees with a digger machine to lay cables for street lights.

The workers, Matthew Stiles and John Nolan, said they were instructed to dig there by site foreman Mr Byrnes.

Kennet District Council's countryside and landscape officer Will Harley saw the men working by the trees on April 13.

He took photographs of the trench the men had dug which was about one metre away from the tree trunks.

Mr Harley, who was Kennet's expert witness, said he believed more than fifty per cent of the trees' roots had been damaged and as a result said the trees would die within three to five years.

To be successful in the prosecution Kennet had to prove that more than 51 per cent of the trees' roots had been damaged.

The defence's expert witness Colin Bashford believed the root damage was 17 and a half per cent and his view on the direction of the growth of the tree roots was at odds with Mr Harley's.

Mr Harley believed the roots did not grow underneath the road surface as he had not seen any when BT dug a trench in the road a few years ago. He believed the roots were concentrated on the grass verge around the trees.

However Mr Bashford said: "I am quite convinced that the tree roots go under the road and therefore it would have been impossible to have severed more than 50 per cent of the roots.

"Had the tree roots been severed to the extend that the local authority feared the trees would be showing signs now of instability.

"When I visited the trees there were no symptoms of reduced vigour or vitality."

Mr Bashford, an arboricultural consultant, has 38 years experience in the industry.

For 14 years he was the senior arboriculturist at the Department of Environment and advisor to central Government.

He also helped co-ordinate the national approach to dealing with the extensive damage caused to trees following the great storm of 1987 and in 1990 was award an MBE for services to, and work with, trees.

The court heard that David Wilson Homes, the firm building houses on the former Roundway hospital site, had sent a memo to Tithegrove which mentioned the need to avoid trees with tree preservation orders on them.

Mr Byrnes, 31, said he had been given a sketch of the area where the cables were to be laid in Byron Road but said it had no measurements on so he did not know how far away from the trees his workers should dig. He said he did not intend to damage the trees.

After an hour of deliberation the three magistrates found Tithegrove and Mr Byrnes not guilty of all the charges although they said the actions of the defendants was wilful.

Chairman of the bench Jackie Lampard said: "The company did not issue the memo or a fully detailed plan to the site foreman.

"The company knew of the tree preservation orders and did not pass on adequate information to the site staff."

She said Mr Byrnes should have sought clarification when he got the sketch.

Mrs Lampard added: "Having assessed the expert evidence we believe the damage to the tree roots is nearer to 17.5 per cent rather than fifty per cent and we believe there are roots under the road.

"We do not find the trees were damaged in such a manner as likely to destroy them."

The magistrates agreed to the defence counsel's application for the defendants' costs to be taxed and paid out of central funds.