Emmerdale star Paula Tilbrook has won a four-year legal battle over a 33ft fence.

The actress, who plays busybody Betty Eagleton in the ITV soap, was asked to remove the lofty trellis at her Altrincham home by neighbour Samuel Reid.

When the 77-year-old refused, the Daily Mail reports that Reid, 45, enlisted workmen to do it anyway.

Tilbrook was awarded £2,850 damages at Manchester County Court in July when she sued her neighbour for trespass. A subsequent appeal lodged by Reid at the Civil Appeal Court in London has now been refused.

Reid said after yesterday's hearing that it was a case of life imitating art. "I feel sorry for her at the end of the day. I think she's playing her own character," he said. Tilbrook declined to comment.

The trellis was apparently installed more than 30 years ago, with the consent of Tilbrook's former neighbour.