A WESTON man is set for his own scrap yard challenge after being told to clean up his act by a judge at Bristol Crown Court last week.

Paul Walters amassed hoards of junk, including old cars and bicycles, oil drums and sheets of lead in a yard at the back of his home in Locking Road.

But at the court on January 6, 54-year-old Walters was fined �2,500 and told to clear the scrap from his back garden, after residents had complained of the ‘unbearable’ smell.

And if he doesn’t pay the fine by February 17, he will face three months in prison.

His neighbours Sheila and Tony Withers say the piles of scrap built up so much in the last five years that their garden fence started to buckle under the pressure, while they couldn’t open their kitchen window in the summer because of the stench.

Mrs Withers said: “It was only after his father died five years ago that all the junk started to build up out the back.

“Since the judge made the order last week he has moved quite a lot of what used to be there, there used to be four cars but he’s had a scrap dealer come and get rid of one of them as well as a lot of other things.

“It used to be unbearable really, especially in the summer when we had to close the windows of our kitchen so we couldn’t smell the piles of who-knows-what out there.

“There was so much junk piled up against our wall from the yard that we could never actually open the gate and get out there.”

At the hearing, the recorder Mr Andrew Langdon QC was told by Walters, who represented himself, that the scrap in his yard was worth an estimated �2,000, prompting Mr Langdon to fine him �2,500.

Mr Langdon said Walters had previously been fined �500 in January 2008 and March 2009, had been given numerous chances to clear up the junk after being sent several letters.

Walters was unavailable for comment.