A judge has told a man who spent seven years fighting maritime authorities for the right to anchor his barge on a foreshore he owns in Cornwall that he had become “obsessed with a battle that does not has no purpose.”

Dean Richards was given a three-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £15,000 costs to the Marine Management Organization at Truro Crown Court.

In November, a jury found Richards guilty of breaching the Marine and Coastal Access Act for mooring his 86-foot (26 m) barge on his land on the river at Point Quay, between Truro and Falmouth, without permit.

Judge Simon Carr told Richards the financial penalty was “the most self-inflicted wound I have ever seen”.

The former bank manager, who is now a care worker, is also fighting Cornwall Council over the coercive measures it is taking against him.

The local authority said it needed planning permission to moor the former Royal Navy munitions barge in the riverside village – but Mr Richards maintained it did not. did not need it because he had a certificate of legality, the Local democracy information service said.

Arevik Jackson, prosecuting on behalf of the MMO, sought £21,000 in costs, which she said was a “conservative” amount.

Truro Crown Court heard that land owned by Richards on the Point foreshore had been valued at £35,000 and the value of the barge at the scrapyard was £3,000.

Documents presented to the court showed Richards had significant debts, including credit card debt and charges relating to another unsuccessful affair, which Judge Carr described as “self-inflicted”.

Truro Crown Court heard that land owned by Richards on the Point foreshore had been valued at £35,000 and the value of the barge at the scrapyard was £3,000.

Documents presented to the court showed Richards had significant debts, including credit card debt and charges relating to another unsuccessful affair, which Judge Carr described as “self-inflicted”.

The judge told Richards: “Your arguments, in the vast amount of material generated by this case… show a quite extraordinary level of burying your head in the sand in the face of the reality of the situation.”

“You are an intelligent man – you have known from the beginning that you have absolutely no defense in this matter.

“You could have changed the mooring style of the barge at any time and stopped this… it’s totally irrational.”

He added “the desire to provide a home for you and your child on the moored barge on an understandable human level.”

Richards was ordered to pay £15,000 of the £21,000 requested by the MMO by May 23, 2025.