A LOCAL woman who claimed council planning rules do not apply to her – because she only answers to God – has been fined £3,000.

Veronica Bowden, 48, was ordered to get off land at Wiveliscombe after failing in a series of bids for permission for a residential development.

But she failed to do so and instead moved a mobile home, solar panels, a portable toilet and other items onto the site.

Last October she was convicted at Taunton Crown Court of breaching an enforcement notice preventing development and handed the £3,000 fine.

A year on she took her case in person to the Court of Appeal in London in a bid to clear her name and overturn the hefty fine.

Bowden told three of the country’s top judges that she does not have to abide by council rules, because she answers only to a higher power.

“I have to follow God’s law, because God is my creator,” she told Lord Justice Hickinbottom, Mr Justice Openshaw and Judge Michael Toposki QC.

“I can’t follow council rules because they’re not my authority. My authority comes from the top – from God.”

Her conviction was upheld.