A cash-strapped farmer dumped manure outside one of Britain's biggest high street banks as a mark of protest over a long-running dispute.

Father-of-four Harry Sutcliffe sprayed muck from his tractor onto a pavement outside a branch of Barclay's Bank in North Street Keighley yesterday morning.

Bradford magistrates heard how his protest was sparked by a letter from the bank, demanding payment of half an outstanding debt totalling £240,000 within 14 days.

Solicitor Christopher Lynch, for Sutcliffe, described how the dispute between his client and the bank went back more than six years and resulted from a failed residential development at Cow House Farm in Cullingworth.

The court heard that following the death of Sutcliffe's father in 1991 he was persuaded to borrow a large sum of money for the project. Mr Lynch described how the scheme had turned into a "lamentable failure".

Three weeks ago, Sutcliffe received a notice from the bank asking for half of the debt but Mr Lynch said: "He has no hope or prospect of paying that or any part of it. Like all farmers - particularly stock farmers - each working day is little more than a struggle to survive.''

Prosecutor Julia Schofield told magistrates that police officers had been tipped off about someone going to the bank to spread agricultural muck. They found a tractor parked outside the bank doors. The farmer refused to get out of his cab and released manure from the tractor trailer onto the pavement.

Sutcliffe admitted causing a breach of the peace when he appeared in court yesterday afternoon. He was bound over in the sum of £200 to keep the peace for the next 12 months.

After the court case the 42-year-old grandfather said news that Barclays' chief executive, Matthew Barrett, stood to earn £30 million in bonus payments had pushed him over the edge.

"I decided to do something on Tuesday morning," he said. "I was cleaning the shed out and thought, there's a lot of sloppy stuff - I know where that's going!

"I was going to blast it all over the steps and through the door if it was open. I didn't want to cause too much mess. Otherwise I would have taken drier stuff.''

He added: "What has happened led me to attempt suicide and to nightmares. In December 1998, when they told me I had to sell my farm, I finished up on the floor, roaring my eyes out.''

Wife Linda said she didn't want to go to court again.

"It's been hell. I didn't know if he was going to be coming home tonight. No amount of money can repay what we have been through over the last eight years - the tears and fights. It's been hard and having to go out every day with a smile on your face. But we are a close-knit family.''

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