A legal battle to open a footpath across disgraced landlord Nicholas Van Hoogstraten's land was finally over today.

While Van Hoogstraten languishes in prison for his part in the manslaughter of rival landlord Mohammed Raja, members of the East Sussex Ramblers Association (ESRA) were this morning removing the fridges and barbed wire which have blocked the path for the last 13 years.

The route, which runs through Van Hoogstraten's sprawling Hamilton Palace estate at Palehouse Common, near Uckfield, has been the subject of countless court cases, culminating in a win for the ramblers at the High Court of Appeal last year.

Kate Ashbrook, chairman of the ESRA, has been instrumental in pushing the case through the courts.

She said: "The path is now open thanks to the thousands of walkers who stood up for the public's rights.

"East Sussex County Council should have acted 13 years ago when the path was first blocked. But they, like so many other local authorities, failed to act.

"The 'van Hoogstraten' path is now being restored for the public to use, but an estimated 37,000 miles of path, five times round the earth's circumference, in England and Wales remain difficult or impossible to use.

Local authorities will face more and more lobbying, criticism and legal action from the walking public until they fulfil their legal duty to protect the public path network."

East Sussex County Council faces a legal bill of £76,000 after defending its decision not to clear the path, attempting instead to divert it around the obstruction.

The land was transferred to Rarebargain Ltd in 1999.

The company was run under the directorship of Van Hessen, a name used regularly by the landlord who once described ramblers as scum and riff-raff.

He resigned as director shortly before the land was transferred into the ownership of Rarebargain Ltd, which is belived to have mounted up to £100,000 in unpaid fines.

Van Hoogstraten was jailed for ten years last year for his part in the killing of Mr Raja.