A £90,000-a year businessman has landed in court after rowing with his millionaire neighbour over a compost heap.

Tobi Butler stole a private letter addressed to wealthy neighbours Marc and Anna Koska and circulated it to family, friends, villagers and even to the local school.

The letter - which outlined mortage arrears of £7,214 - was used by Butler to try and ruin the financial reputation of the Koskas, Hove Crown Court was told.

It was the defendant's way of getting his own back following a dispute over his dogs and the compost heap, the court heard.

Mr Koska hit the headlines after he was made an OBE for his work inventing a syringe which has saved thousands of lives.

The syringes can be used only once, stopping the spread of HIV through shared needles.

The court was told how the unsavoury episode began after Mr Koska decided to change the mortgage on his detached family home in Mill Lane, Sheffield Green, near Uckfield, last year.

A letter was sent threatening legal action to recover £7,214 in arrears which had run up as a result of the change in lender.

Butler opened it after it was wrongly delivered to his home instead of Mr Koska's, Hove Crown Court was told.

He sent copies of it to Mr Koska's family, friends, business associates, members of the community and even to his childrens' school.

Ann Toynbee, prosecuting, said there had been "a number of issues" between Butler and his neighbours in up-market Mill Lane.

She said: "About 50 copies of the letter were circulated with little bits added in the defendant's handwriting.

"They suggested Mr Koska was someone who had bad a credit and could not be trusted. This caused his family a great deal of concern.

"Although they knew they did not have a problem the people to whom the letter was circulated would have assumed there was a problem.

"Without the background of the legitimate arrears being explained, it would appear to any business or creditor that Mr Koska had a poor credit history."

Butler, 37, denied stealing the letter from a mail box outside Mr Koska's home in May last year.

Mrs Toynbee said his fingerprints were found on some of the letters sent to others.

She added there was also evidence that handwriting on the letters matched Butler's and the letters had been copied on the same machine.

Butler denied theft at the start of his trial at Hove Crown Court today.

He changed his plea to guilty after hearing the case against him opened by Mrs Toynbee.

Sara-Lise Howe, defending, said Butler has no previous convictions.

He is believed to have earned £90,000-a-year from a gym equipment business before it went into administration.

Miss Howe said: "The letter was wrongly delivered to him, something which has been a persistent problem.

"He opened it with the rest of his post that morning.

"At the time there had been some problems between him and his neighbours over his dogs and also over a compost heap in his garden.

"After seeing the contents of the letter he foolishly decided to send it to various people, resulting in the problems we have heard about.

"He is the father of a 22-month-old boy and has never been in trouble before."

Butler will be sentenced on October 29, and was warned not to have any contact with the Koskas before then.