A man said his neighbor sprayed herbicide in his face during a heated dispute over a garden wall.
His 53-year-old Lloyd Tolkien, the great-grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, the noted author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, was temporarily blinded and suffered severe pain. He claims to have felt
A magistrate's court heard that Mr. Tolkien was trapped in a dispute over the boundaries of his yard with his neighbor Ivor Hopkins, 83.
Mr. Hopkins was brought to court on charges of general assault for allegedly spraying Mr. Tolkien with a toxic chemical.
Prosecutor Neil Catherall said in court that his client saw Hopkins spraying herbicide near the wall separating the two gardens.
Tolkien apparently decided to keep an eye on his neighbors to make sure his garden was not being sprayed, and when he suspected that it was being sprayed, I started filming Hopkins as evidence.
Kasel said:
A lawyer told the court his client was "shocked" that the herbicide had left his left eye sore and blurred his vision.
He confirmed that Tolkien had recovered by the next day, but decided to call the police after his neighbor did not apologize.
Hopkins told police he suspected the wind had caught some of the toxic spray and blew it into Tolkien's face, but later admitted to the assault in court.
Defense Simon Simmons told the court that this was the latest in a "long-running dispute" between his two men and that Hopkins was being filmed "very It felt intimidating," he said.
"He just wants this to end and move on," added Simmons.
The court ordered Hopkins to conditionally discharge him for 12 months, cost £350 and he pay a victim surcharge of £22.
Damages were not awarded because the magistrate felt that such penalties would "worse" the situation.
Tolkien's grandfather was JRR Tolkien's second son, Michael He Tolkien.
Along with his two brothers and sisters, Michael was read the first editions of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by his father.
Lloyd kept it in the family, appearing in his one of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films and his second Hobbiton film in an uncredited role under the same director.
But Lloyd sadly does not remember his inspirational ancestor, who died in 1973 when he was four years old.
Of his great-grandfather's work he said:
