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Only hours earlier they had stood alongside one other at the local church to pay their respects.

But no sooner had Harry Gaughan, 69, been cremated than his relatives began fighting over the house where he used to live.

Millionaire property developer Clifford Harrison, 50, swung a 4ft cue at pall bearer Cameron Harris, 43, leaving him needing treatment for a head wound.

Harrison, who is married to Mr Gaughan's niece, had turned up at the £200,000 home to measure the garden for a new building plot.

He asked Mr Gaughan's widow, Dawn Cannon, 44, when she would be leaving before insisting she let him in, a court heard.

Despite her protests, he jumped over the back wall with a tape measure.

It was then that she called Mr Harris, a friend of the family, to come round for support.

Mr Gaughan, a former fireman, sold the property in Snaith, East Yorkshire, to his niece eight years ago as he fought cancer, on the condition that he be allowed to live there.

But hours after the funeral service last October, it became the scene of a brawl.

'He said it was his property and he had a right to be there,' Mr Harris told Hull Crown Court.

'Mr Harrison said, "let's take this outside".

'At that point I walked out to the front and was approached by Mr Harrison. He was carrying a snooker cue. I had never seen anything like that before in my life. He came towards me shouting. He hit me twice with a single swing, hitting my shoulder and head.

'I could not believe it. We had just taken Harry away the day before. Dawn was still very, very upset.'

Mr Harris, a fireman, received a bruise to his head and had to be treated at Goole Hospital.

Harrison's barrister, Susanna Kitzing, insisted he had acted in self-defence but admitted: 'He was ill advised in being there. He has been insensitive. But he is not here accused of insensitivity.

'I am here to say the assault was justified. That is was selfdefence-He struck one blow.' Harrison was convicted at Goole Magistrates' Court last month.

Yesterday, he lost his appeal against the conviction for causing actual bodily harm.

Judge Roger Thorn, QC, sitting with magistrates, said: 'We have reached the conclusion beyond doubt that the purpose of the visit was to cause some sort of trouble.'

He said he found it 'extraordinary' that Harrison had claimed to be measuring up so soon after the funeral, knowing that any work would have to be carried out by an architect who would take his own measurements.

He ordered Harrison, of Holme-upon-Spalding-Moor, near York, to pay £346 in legal costs, a fine of £500, and £250 compensation to Mr Harris.

Outside the court, Miss Cannon said: 'Harry will be turning over in his grave if he knew what had happened so soon after the funeral.

'I lived with him for six years and he was a proud, loving gentleman who was respected by everyone.

'Mr Harrison wanted me out. I knew that.'


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Guilty: Clifford Harrison (left) attacked Cameron Harris (right)

Source; www.dailymail.co.uk