A couple who developed cancer have won their fight to have a mobile phone mast removed from their back garden.

George and Margaret King have both been diagnosed with breast cancer since they moved into their cottage in Church Road, Crowborough, in 1997.

They blame the 59ft Vodafone mast 10ft from their back garden for the disease and have been calling on the firm to remove the mast.

Now tyre company ATS Euromaster, which owns the land the mast was built on, has ruled it must come down.

Vodaphone has agreed to take down the mast but maintains there is no substantial evidence that phone masts affect people's health.

Mrs King, 66, said: "We are absolutely jubilant. It has been an uphill struggle.

We didn't need this at our time of life. We had to shame everybody into doing something about it.

It's an embarrassment.

"I hope that in the future these masts can be placed away from residential areas, away from homes, schools and hospitals."

She said she and her husband had been healthy when they moved into the house but in 1999 she developed breast cancer and had a mastectomy operation to remove a breast.

Two years later Mr King, 74, also developed breast cancer and had a mastectomy.

He has also had operations to remove five skin lesions on his face, and is to have three more removed in another operation.

Both Mr and Mrs King are now in remission but want the mast to be taken away. They only realised it was a mobile phone mast when Vodafone applied for planning permission to move it 3ft closer to their back garden.

With the support of neighbours they lobbied for Vodafone to take the mast away.

Mrs King said: "We thought it was unusual that both of us got breast cancer, especially as there are only about 250 cases of men getting it a year.

"It was a very strange coincidence for both of us to get breast cancer living in the same house."

Mr King said: "Everybody uses mobile phones but the companies should think carefully where they select a site for masts." He accepted there was no proven link between phone masts and cancer but said it was wrong to put them so close to homes.