Taxpayers face a bill running into tens of thousands of pounds after a three-year legal battle over the poisoning of two hedgehogs.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is prosecuting Robert Whiley, a pest controller employed by Great Yarmouth Borough Council, for failing to take reasonable precautions when putting down poison to deal with rat infestation at the home of Ellen King, a 97-year-old spinster, in Hemsby, Norfolk, three years ago.

Within two weeks of laying the poison, a neighbour of Miss King discovered the dead hedgehogs.

Councillors at the Conservative-controlled council are furious about the money spent on the case and that the matter has now come to court. They have described it as “an incredible waste of taxpayers’ money”.

The council has spent £10,000 on legal costs over three years resisting the prosecution and it is estimated that the four-day hearing this week will add another £10,000 to the bill.

Similar amounts have been spent by Defra but a spokeswoman was unable to confirm the costs.

Mr Whiley, 63, who has worked as a pest controller for 40 years, denies the charges. Great Yarmouth council denies failing to train him properly in the use of pesticides.

Speaking at Great Yarmouth Magistrates’ Court, Tom Payne, for the prosecution, said that the case had nothing to do with the death of hedgehogs and was about the health and safety risk to children and pets.

He said: “This pesticide was deployed in a negligent and reckless way. It wasn’t protected or put in the proper place. Leaflets were not left. Proper information was notever given to the frail, elderly woman or to her neighbour who cares for her.”

He said that the poison represented a risk to wildlife in the garden and to pets, and Miss King’s house was next to a path leading to a Site of Special Scientific Interest where children play and dogs are walked.

“There was a bag of poison left in a garage 1.6 metres from the path. It would have been very easy to imagine circumstances where a dog or a child could have wandered into the garage and come into contact with it,” he added.

Paulie Baker, the neighbour, told the court that she had seen Mr Whiley throw bags of poison in the pensioner’s garden and had found another on the floor of Miss King’s bathroom.

Colin Lions, for the defence, said that the bags of rat poison had been “carefully placed”.

At an earlier hearing Mr Lions argued that it was not in the public interest to proceed with the case and said that the offence was not sufficiently serious to warrant it.

Before the hearing Chris Skinner, solicitor for the council, insisted that the local authority and Mr Whiley had done nothing wrong.

“The lady was old and clearly frail. There was a very serious infestation of rats. Her health was at risk so we wanted to deal with it as quickly as possible.

“We would have hoped more consideration would have been given to the fact that the council was trying to do a job under difficult circumstances.”

The RSPCA, Norfolk Constabulary and the Health and Safety Executive were also informed about the case but dropped it after investigations.

A spokeswoman for Defra said: “The rat poison should have been put down more discreetly and out of areas where children or pets go. It might only have been two hedgehogs that died but it could have been a child or dogs. It is a case about the legal use of pesticides which can be dangerous.”

The trial continues.

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