A UK property developer has been fined £300,000 for breaking a number of laws when he used children’s gravestones from a derelict church he owned to build an illegal patio at a historic home.
Kim Gregory Davies illegally modernised the building behind the Irish-composed hymn All Things Bright And Beautiful and has been told by a judge to pay the fine or go to jail.
Newport Crown Court heard the property appeared to have “wall plaques” made from the gravestone of three children who died more than 100 years ago.
The court heard how planners were horrified when they saw the “decorative stone plaques” had been used as part of a gaudy £1 million makeover to the Grade 2-listed home, turning it into a “palace for an Iron Curtain dictator”.
One of the 150-year-old gravestones was even engraved with the names of three brothers and a sister who all died while under the age of four.
The businessman also used some of the gravestones as flagstones for a patio which he built at the £2.2 million country mansion.
It means children are now lying in unmarked graves at the disused Soar-y-Graig Non Conformist chapel in the village of Llechryd.
Other unlawful alterations to Llanwenarth House included the installation of a “mosaic-clad jacuzzi”, ripping up parquet flooring and laying down modern tiles in their place as well as removing old timber windows.
Prosecutors said Davies also wrecked several of the Regency features and opted for a “mock Tudor” designs instead.
Llanwenarth House was built in the late 16th century and was given its special status six decades ago because of its national importance.
The Georgian-style manor in the picturesque Usk Valley, south Wales, is where Irish composer Cecil Alexander is thought to have written the lyrics to the famous song.
Davies (60) originally insisted he had done nothing wrong and claimed planning officer had given him verbal permission to carry out the work.
He also said he had “saved” the seven-bedroom property from ruin as it was “falling down” when he bought it.
But prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC told the court of how a listed building specialist Michael Davies described the alterations as being the “worst example” he had seen during his 25-year career.
He said: “The works carried out by this defendant were extensive and affected every part of the exterior and interior of the property.Layers of history were ripped out and discarded.”
“The impact of the works has been immensely damaging,” he said.
Judge Daniel Williams ordered Davies to pay a £60,000 fine by September 15th.
He will also have to pay £240,000 of the prosecution’s £440,000 bill. Those payments will be made in £40,000 instalments over a six-month period.
Judge Williams said if the fine was not paid in full Davies would be the subject of a 20-month prison sentence.
PA