A footpath blocked by jailed property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten for 13 years has been opened after a campaign by ramblers.

Van Hoogstraten denied access to the path across his estate at Framfield in East Sussex, despite court orders to open it and appeals from the Ramblers Association.

A group of campaigners, on Monday, pulled down fences and gates he installed across the path to open it for public access.

Van Hoogstraten, 57, is serving a 10-year jail sentence for the manslaughter of Surrey businessman Mohammed Raja.

Rambler Kate Ashbrook led the campaign

The tycoon blocked the path, known as Framfield 9, with a barbed wire fence, padlocked gates, fridges and a barn he built across it.

It crosses the grounds of his partly-built neo-classical mansion at Framfield, near Uckfield, which is estimated to have cost him �40m to build so far.

When the footpath was closed, East Sussex County Council ordered Van Hoogstraten to clear it within 90 days.

But he applied to have the path diverted and the council agreed.

The diversion stood until November 2002, when the Ramblers Association succeeded in a court battle to have the diversion quashed and the 140-year-old right of way re-opened.

Obstacles cleared

The multi-millionaire, who has described ramblers as "the great unwashed" and "riff-raff", had been jailed a month earlier.

He was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter for his part in the killing by two hitmen of Mr Raja.

The tycoon called ramblers "the great unwashed"

A demolition machine was used to clear obstacles from the path, while the ramblers helped remove the fence and unlock the gates to allow the path to be walked on for the first time since 1990.

Kate Ashbrook, who led the Ramblers Association campaign, made the first cut through the barbed wire.

She said: "The path is now open thanks to the thousands of walkers who stood up for the public's rights."

The association's chief executive Nick Barrett said: "I regard this case as highly symbolic. This is not just about a piece of muddy track.

"What we have here is a grotesque caricature of a situation that exists in a milder form throughout the country."