A GWENT couple ordered to pay £4,600 in fines and costs for building their garage 1.25 metres too high, have had their sentences reduced on appeal.

Paul and Carol Breen were fined £4,000 in total with costs after failing to get Planning permission for the amended height.

But at Newport crown court Judge Furness cut Breen's fine to £1,500 with £600 costs while his wife was given an absolute discharge.

The court was told by Newport council's Gwydion Hughes that the Breens, of Cwm Lane, Rogerstone, had been given planning permission for a garage. The plan was altered and Breen informed the council then built the garage.

He applied for retrospective planning permission but was turned down and told to reduce the garage's height. Mr Hughes said the couple had not complied with an enforcement order.

The court heard that neighbours had complained about the building's height and a prosecution followed. In October the couple were fined by Newport magistrates under the Town and Country Planning Act.

Representing the Breens, Chris McKay argued that the fines were too high and that more obtrusive buildings in sensitive areas had brought lighter fines when people had breached planning regulations.

Judge Furness said: "Mr Breen alone should have been fined. It is clear that he knew he had to comply with this order but his fine is too high and we are grateful that Mr McKay has drawn attention to other cases." He ordered that £750 of Mr Breen's costs be paid by central funds.

Paul Breen, pictured, said after the case: "The fact my wife has been cleared and my fine has been cut shows there is a little bit of justice in the world."