Potty! A judge's verdict on neighbours who blew £300,000 EACH in court row over rhododendron bushes

Lord Justice Ward urged Robert Beton and Colin Streets to abandon their "hideous litigation" over a "stupid piece of land", telling them: "Go away and sort it out."

The judge's astonishing outburst came after he heard about the long-running dispute between the two businessmen over a quarter of an acre of land on the exclusive St George's Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey.

The estate is one of Britain's ten most expensive addresses.

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Past and present residents include Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Tom Jones, Sir Elton John, John Lennon, Chelsea footballer Didier Drogba and the Manchester City owner, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Appeal Court in London heard that the case centred on a chain link fence which was originally hidden by a clump of rhododendrons.

When the bushes died in 2005, Mr Beton spotted the fence for the first time.

He noticed that it sliced off two small triangles of land which he believed belonged to his garden.

The total area amounted to about a quarter of an acre - a tiny fraction of the house's huge garden.

But land on St George's Hill can change hands for up to £3.5million an acre.

The area is known as a "golden postcode", where property prices are virtually unaffected by downturns or credit crunches.

Mr Beton took legal action over the disputed land, but last year a judge at Kingston County Court ruled that his neighbour Mr Streets, 61, had squatters' rights over the land, as the fence had gone unnoticed for years.

The matter could have ended there, but 48-year-old Mr Beton, who lives in a sprawling two-storey house with his wife of 16 years, Carolyn Valdata-Beton, and their two teenage daughters, took the case to the Appeal Court.

Yesterday his lawyer Clive Freedman QC argued that the county court decision was wrong because the position of the fence did not tally with the boundary plans of the two properties.

Lord Justice Ward granted leave to appeal, but then rounded on both sides and launched a stinging attack against the entire legal action.

He said: "This is another of that hideous form of litigation called the boundary dispute, a form of litigation which is best not pursued.

"Just how much is this stupid piece of land worth? What you are arguing over is a few rhododendron bushes. If you live in St George's Hill you've got money to throw away, presumably.

"But why throw it away like this? You're all potty.

Disputes of this kind are a most hateful form of litigation. Go away and sort it out."

If the neighbours cannot settle their differences, the case will go on to be heard by three judges in a day-long Court of Appeal hearing, which would see the legal bill soar even higher.

Mr Beton, who was in court to hear the judge's comments, did not return calls to his lawyer's office.

Mr Streets, a company director with a string of successful office equipment firms based in Croydon, was not in court and was unavailable for comment.