A FARMER who illegally felled scores of 200-year-old beech trees faces a potential six-figure fine.

Keith Smith, 64, told District Judge David Parsons he shook hands on a £5,000 deal to do the work at Pen-y-Fan Farm, Manmoel, near Blackwood, in 2016.

Thirty acres of land he had leased at the farm was to be used by a company, Gildemeister, to site solar panels, and Smith said a man called Bernard Sharp - who he believed wrongly was in charge of the installation - offered him the felling job.

At Newport Magistrates Court, Judge Parsons was told the planning permission for the solar energy project did not include tree felling, and there was no contract or written record of an agreement with Mr Sharp.

Natural Resources Wales was alerted early in January 2017, but 82 trees had by then been cut down. Smith was charged with felling timber without a licence, under the Forestry Act 1967.

Living on a neighbouring farm, he subsequently moved to Carmarthenshire, and was unaware of court proceedings last year, when he was fined more than £105,000 with almost £7,000 costs, so the case was reopened.

Defending, Robert Wade said Smith maintained he is innocent as he was acting for Mr Sharp. Smith said he met Mr Sharp several times and was given first refusal on the felling job as he had lost some of the land he leased.

“He asked me if I was interested, which I was,” said Smith. Felling began in November 2016.

He said he was offered £5,000 by Mr Sharp - “we shook hands on it” - but had not been paid.

Smith was “upset” at losing 30 of the 130 acres he leased but did not blame the owner, as the solar energy project was more lucrative. He admitted knowing the trees were a valuable amenity, and said previously he was “gutted” they were to be cut down.

“I was (gutted). I also said they should have done it (the solar project) on the slag heaps rather than on farming land,” he said, adding that he had not checked the legal position regarding the felling, and “just assumed, wrongly, it was all in the plans.”

His niece Jenny Williams, with whom he lived on a neighbouring farm, said she saw Mr Sharp several times and “he was the boss there really, overseeing work.”

Mr Wade said Smith had been approached by Mr Sharp, who he considered to be in charge, and was in no different a position than an employee told by their boss to do a job. Mr Sharp's role was not made clear in court.

But Judge Parsons found Smith guilty, saying he knew the impact and damage would be significant, yet made no checks with Caerphilly council and Natural Resources Wales - which brought the case against him - as to his responsibilities, relying instead “entirely upon Bernard Sharp”.

“That displays, for someone of your background, a disregard for responsibilities people have in relation to the management of land. You just accepted what Bernard Sharp told you,” said Judge Parsons.

Sentencing was adjourned until October 15.