Paula Tilbrook, who plays Emmerdale’s nosey parker Betty, has won a four-year legal battle with a neighbour over a fence.

Paula, was asked to remove the 33 foot long trellis by her neighbour Samuel Reid.

When the 77-year-old refused, the Daily Mail reports that Reid, 45, brought workmen in to do it anyway. The pair live side by side in Altrincham, Cheshire.

Paula was awarded £2,850 in damages at Manchester County Court when she sued her neighbour for trespassing on her property. An appeal lodged by Reid at the Civil Appeal Court in London was yesterday refused.

Reid said that he felt Paula had been acting as Betty would over the fence; “I feel sorry for her at the end of the day. I think she’s playing her own character,” he said. Paula declined to reply to his comment.

The trellis-fence was apparently erected more than thiry years ago, with the consent of Paula’s former neighbour.