A middle-aged couple have been jailed for a month for cutting down a hedge in breach of a civil court injunction.

Grandparents Malcolm Girling, 57, and his wife Marlene, 54, of Witton, near Norwich, were each jailed for 28 days by a judge at Norwich County Court after a dispute with neighbours over a 15 foot tall hedge.

The neighbours John and Lynda Williams, also believed to be in their 50s, concerned at the Girlings' plans to trim the hedge obtained a court injunction telling them not to cut it.

When the Girlings did trim it, they were brought before the court.

Malcolm being a red-blooded English male decided he wasn't having anyone telling him not to cut his hedge

Girlings' son-in-law Paul Hewitt

On Friday, one of the Girlings' three daughters, Victoria Hewitt, 35, a mother of two, said: "We're heartbroken. How could this happen because of a dispute about a hedge?

"They have lived their for 26 years. My mum has never even had a parking ticket. Now they are in prison."

The Girlings' son-in-law Paul Hewitt, 40, from Norwich, said the jail sentence was "appalling".

He said there had been a number of disputes between the two sets of neighbours since the Williams family moved in last summer.

Reasonable height

Mr Hewitt, sales manager with the Norfolk Motor Group, said: "My in-laws had quite an extensive hedge which was about 15 feet tall.

"My father-in-law told the neighbours he was going to trim the hedge to a reasonable height.

"Then a few days later they got a court injunction telling them not to cut it.

"Malcolm being a red-blooded English male decided he wasn't having anyone telling him not to cut his hedge."

Mr Hewitt said Mr Girling then cut the hedge down.

He said: "I have been told that they can't appeal.

The remains of the 15-foot hedge

"If you were a murderer or rapist you can get bail but he's a gardener and can't have bail and no appeal - you have no human rights unless you are a criminal.

"It's appalling, yes he broke the law, but everyone has a right to appeal.

"I don't think Marlene has even ever had a parking ticket."

Mr Hewitt said the couple's three daughters were "distraught".

Concern over hedges, a major cause of neighbour conflict, has prompted calls in Parliament for greater regulation.