POLICE may reopen an investigation into the poisoning of two yew trees in a Tisbury churchyard, after the Journal uncovered evidence that points the finger at the person who might deliberately have caused their deaths.

Just a few days ago, the two yew trees, in the churchyard of St John's Church, were felled, on the orders of the parochial church council, because they had died.

The trees' death goes back to the spring of 2002, when a mystery attacker drilled a series of holes round the lower sections of their trunks and poured some sort of chemical into the holes.

Since that time, the two trees, which are hundreds of years old and growing within a conservation area, have steadily deteriorated, until this summer, when it was clear one was completely dead and the second very close to it.

Because of their condition, the church authorities were given the go-ahead to fell them.

A few days after the trees had been felled, the Journal was contacted and given information about the identity of the person responsible for drilling the holes and pouring a liquid into the trunks.

Evidence suggests that, as well as boring holes into the trunks, the person, over a period of several months, regularly sprayed something on to the top of the trees.

The two trees were growing close to a wall of the former Tisbury Brewery, which at the time was being converted into 22 flats.

Scaffolding erected around the brewery gave the person concerned access to high-level boarding, so that the two trees could be sprayed from above.

The spraying and the later drilling of holes round the trunks was witnessed by certain members of staff employed by Fieldfare Properties, which at the time was the company responsible for converting the brewery on behalf of the then-owners of the building.

One of the workers, Steve Duggan, has given the Journal a signed statement in which he not only confirms seeing the two trees being sprayed and later being drilled, but seeing who did it and recognising him.

He said: "One night, just before Christmas 2001, I was working late on site, when I saw a vehicle pull up and park under the archway of the brewery site.

"A man climbed out and went up the scaffolding with a pack on his back.

"I followed and saw him standing on the scaffolding, spraying something on to the two yew trees."

Mr Duggan said he saw the same man do the same thing on a number of occasions spread over several weeks.

Several months later, he and a colleague heard drilling noises coming from the churchyard.

Mr Duggan told the Journal: "We went to see what it was and saw ****** drilling into the bark of the trees at low level. He looked like he was putting something into the trees."

Mr Duggan said that, in May last year, when the police and Salisbury district council were investigating the drilling of the two trees, he had been recovering from a road accident and did not know of their enquiries.

At the suggestion of the Journal, Mr Duggan has agreed to hand his signed statement to the police.

In May last year, the Journal reported on the discovery of the damaged trees and of a campaign by residents to try and find out who had done it.

Residents signed a petition urging that the "names of the perpetrators be made known to the community" and the rector of Tisbury, the Reverend Humphrey Southern, promised that every effort would be made to save the trees and prevent their being felled.

But this week, churchwarden Sir John Gingall confirmed that the trees had died and had had to be removed for safety reasons.

He said: "The parochial church council took the decision and voluntary labour was used to remove them."

A police spokesman told the Journal that the original investigation had led nowhere and the

file had been "archived" but not closed.

The file would be reopened if new evidence came to light.

David Prince, tree officer for Salisbury district council, which also carried out an investigation at the time, confirmed the two yew trees had been felled because of their condition.

He said the council had made a condition that they be replaced with two new yew trees but, he added, Irish yews could be used instead of English, because of their smaller spread.

The two trees will also have to be planted as close as possible to where the original trees stood.