Commune leader Hilaire Purbrick is illegally living up a tree after the council evicted him from their land.

Last year Mr Purbrick set up a commune and dug a meditational cave on allotment land in Whitehawk Hill, Brighton.

But his luck ran out in June this year when Brighton and Hove City Council were granted a permanent eviction order by a judge.

Mr Purbrick said he would stay until the bailiffs forced him out because his “emotional attachment” to the land was so strong.

But when the time to move on came, Mr Purbrick didn't go far, he simply relocated to the other side of the hill, known as Craven Vale, where he built a tree house.

Yesterday the city council applied for a possession order and an injunction which will stop Mr Purbrick returning to the area for two years.

Mr Purbrick told The Argus: “This time we have the hope of legal representation from the group Friends, Families and Travellers.”

He said: “We live in a lovely sort of hut in a tree. We are trying to get the land back into a state where things can grow – it was a former waste dump.”

A spokeswoman from the council said: “The council has applied for a possession and injunction order across the Craven Vale Estate.

“This would mean that Mr Purbrick would have to vacate the designated area and then be prevented from returning for up to two years.

“The possession order was granted and the hearing for the injunction order was adjourned to the first available court date after 14 August.”