A couple were banned from a hotel after staff found their rabbit’s droppings on the floor of their room after the pair had checked out.

Hotel bosses banned Alfie Joe Higgins, 22, and Blaize Taylor, 23, both of Honey Lane, Waltham Abbey, from the Premier Inn in Sewardstone Road after the droppings, which caused £150 worth of damage, were discovered on December 29.

The couple ended up in Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court after ignoring the ban and checked back into the hotel in January, and then started a fracas.

They were left with a court bill of more than £1,000 after Higgins was found guilty of assaulting police, and Taylor of obstructing officers and using threatening words and behaviour during the incident.

For more on this story see this week's Epping Forest Guardian - out on Thursday.