TWO property developers killed five protected trees standing in the way of their multi-million pound Sandbanks building dreams, a court heard.

Alistair Collier, 41, and Harvey Lee, 66, planned to make £11.2 million by creating three luxury houses on the pricey peninsula.

So when council planners banned the pair, who own Barrington Homes, from building on top of the roots of the massive 70-foot pine trees, they arranged for them to be ring-barked to free up the seafront plot, Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court heard.

A distressed neighbour raised the alarm when they spotted that more than a foot of bark had been stripped from the three Corsican pine and two Scots pines’ trunks in September last year.

Collier, of Forest Lodge, in Wareham, and Lee, of Burton Road, Poole, are charged with 10 offences of damaging and destroying the £50,000 trees, which were protected by Tree Preservation Orders.

They deny the allegations, claiming that the site was not secure and vandals could have stripped away the bark.

Magistrates heard how developers submitted a pre-application enquiry to Poole Borough Council in June 2010 into building three houses on the site, but it was refused.

Michael Tomlinson, prosecuting for Poole council, said it is “no coincidence” that within a month between 14 and 18 inches of bark had been cut from the trees, stopping them from getting essential nutrients.

He said: “The prosecution says this was not an act of vandals or of vandalism, but was done professionally by someone who knew exactly what they wanted to achieve and the extent of damage required to ensure the trees did not survive.”

At the time, the incident was described as one of the worst environmental crimes Poole has ever seen.

Andy Luddington, arboricultural officer for Poole council, said it looked like the culprit had used a handsaw or sharp long blade.

It was not the work of vandals, he added.

“It is quite a measured job, well thought through and significant, quite extensive ring-barking,” Mr Luddington said.

“What is quite interesting is that whoever did it cleaned up and took away bits of bark from the base of the tree.

“It’s a very clean job. It would have taken some time to do – a morning, maybe, or a day.”

The trial continues.