A MIDDLE-aged man who attacked a tree surgeon with a chainsaw during a heated row over a boundary hedge has been told by a judge to expect a "stiff custodial sentence".

Judge John Boggis issued his intent after jurors found James Dyson, 51, guilty of malicious wounding and causing damage, at Southampton Crown Court yesterday.

Dyson, a mechanic, was cleared of a charge of wounding with intent.

He has been bailed on condition that he must not visit Highbridge Farm, communicate with Kevin Herridge or set foot in Bishopstoke.

Earlier, jurors heard how trouble flared when Dyson returned home to Jockey Lane, Bishopstoke, from a funeral and found the hedgerow, planted by his father, had been axed to make way for a redevelopment on a neighbouring site.

Dyson hurled fencing posts and bunting on to a bonfire and then grabbed the chainsaw from the rear of a pick-up truck. He then threw it at a nearside window.

Dyson then picked the machine off the floor and wielded it like a "mad man" before it stalled.

When tree surgeon Kevin Herridge, 32, tried to disarm him, Dyson attempted to restart the chainsaw, the court heard. The men then got involved in a struggle and Mr Herridge suffered cuts to his left arm and leg. He also needed surgery on a finger. Dyson had denied the three charges against him, saying he acted in self-defence after Mr Herridge and other tree surgeons attacked him. Dyson will reappear before Judge Boggis for sentencing on May 17.