Judges have rejected plans by a Sussex council to divert a country footpath near the home of landowner Nicholas van Hoogstraten.

The path is blocked by a barn and a gate put up by a company linked to the multi-millionaire developer.

Rambler Kate Ashbrook's challenge was upheld by the Court of Appeal which dismissed East Sussex County Council's plan to re-route the footpath.

The land over which the track runs belongs to Rarebargain Ltd, now in liquidation.

The multi-millionaire insulted ramblers

Van Hoogstraten - who is serving a prison sentence for manslaughter - had an interest in the company.

His partly-built house, a neo-classical mansion called Hamilton Palace, is on the estate the footpath crosses near Uckfield in East Sussex.

The palace is estimated to have cost �40m so far and is reportedly the most expensive private house built in the UK for a century.

Miss Ashbrook, who is chairwoman of the Ramblers' Association, led the campaign to re-open the 140-year-old right of way, which had been blocked for more than a decade.

She said: "This is a victory for fighters against footpath obstructions through the length and breadth of the country, not just a humiliation for East Sussex County Council."

Miss Ashbrook had accused the council of a "perverse and unsustainable" failure to force the landowner to reopen the path, known as Framfield 9.

Van Hoogstraten has called the Ramblers' Association "riffraff" and "the great unwashed" during the long dispute.

The court heard the company had been prosecuted four times in two years.

Unpaid fines

Lewes magistrates had imposed fines of �86,350, plus �6,900 costs.

They also ordered the removal of obstructions including a barn, a locked gate, barbed wire fence and a line of industrial refrigerators.

The fines were never paid and the company put forward diversion proposals which were taken up by the council.

Now the issue of the footpath has been sent back to the council for reconsideration in the light of the judges' ruling.