A PENSIONER was cleared of assaulting her neighbour with a rake last week, after a dispute over a fence escalated into a court case.

Carol Anne Bennet, 63, of Robins Cob Cottage, Fanshawe Lane, Henbury, was found not guilty of common assault and criminal damage to a wooden fence totalling £4,883.57, by Macclesfield magistrates on Thursday, February 19.

Mrs Bennet, who used to work at All Hallows Catholic College, had denied both charges, which dated back to August 15 and 16 last year.

She was accused of striking neighbour Karen Pelle twice across the shoulder with a rake, after the mother-of-five accused her of damaging fencing belonging to her husband’s estate the previous day.

Mrs Pelle told magistrates: "She went whack across my body. It hit me across the shoulder. She then basically told me to get off her land and then pushed me again with the rake."

But giving evidence, Mrs Bennet, who moved into the cottage adjoining the Robins Cob estate owned by the Pelles, in September 2000, said she had a "mere brush" with her neighbour.

She said: "I asked Mrs Pelle to leave. I put my hand up to emphasise it and the next thing Karen Pelle has knocked her arm against my hand. I feel it was contrived. It was a mere brush.

"The post and rail fence is on my land. The Pelles owned it but through there negligence it has come to me."

And Mr McInnes, defending, argued that a county court order in 2004 had confirmed Mrs Bennet’s ownership of the fencing in question.

"After four years of no action from the Pelles – no inspection or anything else – would not Mrs Bennet have reasonable cause for thinking it was hers?", Mr McInnes said.

And he said the act of assault did not "ring true" because Mrs Pelle had photographed the defendant and her property immediately afterwards.

"That wasn’t the body language of someone who has just been assaulted and couldn’t stop shaking for three hours," he said.

Julian Goode, prosecuting, said: "When Mr Pelle looked through holes (in his fence) and saw you hammering into existing panels and fence posts, you were damaging his property."

Chairman of the bench Ian Cawley said there was no supporting medical evidence of assault. He added that the fence posts in question had clearly been on Mrs Bennet’s side of the border since 2004.

Speaking outside court, Mrs Bennet confirmed she had worked at All Hallows, and said: "I feel very relieved about it all. It has been a long time coming. At my age it isn’t easy.

"It wasn’t very nice being in custody."