A NEIGHBOUR has spoken of her relief after a couple being prosecuted over giant trees finally chopped back the Leylandii in their garden.

Andreas and Teresa Isaias have reduced the height of the trees after a two-year battle by the woman whose garden they overshadowed.

She said: "It has worried me to death. The day after they were chopped back was my first good night's sleep for ages."

Plymouth City Council was prosecuting the couple for not complying with a council order to reduce the size of the two Leylandii in their garden in Plymstock.

Mr Isaias, aged 58, and his 52-year-old wife were facing a trial after denying the charge in front of Plymouth magistrates.

The council has now dropped the case after the trees were chopped back on January 11, two days after their court appearance.

The neighbour, who does not want to be named, lives in Furzehatt Way at the back of the Isaias' detached home on higher ground in Furzehatt Road.

She said the trees, measured by the council as eight metres high, blocked out the light in her kitchen and littered her back garden with debris.

The neighbour said she first wrote to the couple in September 2009 to complain about the trees and met once with Mrs Isaias.

But the woman said nothing was done and she complained to the council, paying the authority what she said was several hundred pounds to carry out an investigation.

The council issued a notice to the couple, who are hoteliers and restaurateurs, and then launched a prosecution under antisocial behaviour legislation.

The neighbour said Mr and Mrs Isaias had the height of the trees cut back to the required 5.5 metres just after their court appearance last month.

The woman said some branches were still growing into her garden – so she hired her own tree surgeon to lop them off.

She added that she would complain again to the council if the trees were allowed to grow back.

The woman said: "It has trundled on and on, but I have got what I want and the matter is settled.

"The kitchen is a lot lighter now and I don't have to clean up the garden three times a week.

"When it was windy so many bits used to fall from the trees it looked like it was snowing."

A spokeswoman for the city council said: "The defendants in the case have now carried out work to their hedge, to the satisfaction of the complainant and the council. The council has therefore reviewed the case and considers it is no longer in the public interest to proceed with this prosecution.

"This is a good outcome. We are satisfied the work we wanted to see carried out has been completed."