A SQUATTER who for more than 20 years quietly grazed his cattle on a 13-acre plot of prime development land could be sitting on a multi-million-pound goldmine after an Appeal Court ruling.

David Townley has, since the early 1980s, not paid a penny for his occupation of disputed fields near Scotforth.

Developers had hoped to build more than 500 new homes but the ruling in London means Topplan Estates Ltd face a seemingly impossible obstacle to their plans.

Mr Townley now holds all the cards in the dispute and the company, which bought the land in 1992 for development, now has no choice but to try and buy it all over again this time from Mr Townley.

He and his family have farmed adjoining Whinney Carr Farm since the 1960s and it is up to him whether he wants to sell.

Lord Justice Jonathan Parker upheld his squatters rights' over the land after accepting that he had been in uninterrupted possession of the fields for at least 12 years.

The farmer uses the land to cut grass for silage and as pasture for his cattle and the decision means the developers face paying the price for having done nothing to stop him or to assert their ownership rights.

The greenfield land has in the past attracted the interest of Barratt Homes and, although planning permission for 535 homes was refused last year, Topplan Estates had hoped to win consent for large-scale development.

The developers had accused Mr Townley of lying low' to develop squatters rights over the fields, but the judge said: "There can be no obligation in law on a squatter to draw the true owner's attention to the fact that time is running against them."

He also dismissed Topplan's arguments that Mr Townley's possession of the land had been interrupted by road widening works on the nearby A6 in 1993.

Rejecting claims that there had been anything underhand about the farmer's conduct, Lord Justice Parker said: "The activities of the squatter on the land must have been open and apparent to anyone who had eyes to see."