A NORTH Yorkshire widow who took on National Grid in a David and Goliath battle over their plans to build pylons on her land was heading to London today for a last- minute bid to stop the work.

A surveying team working for the company, which is building power lines across the Vale of York from Teesside to Shipton-by-Beningbrough, moved on to 61-year-old Rosalind Craven's land at Home Farm, Huby, near Easingwold, on Saturday, after the firm won a High Court injunction to stop her refusing them access.

But Mrs Craven claimed the company should not be coming on to her land because she was set to lodge an application for leave to appeal with the Court of Appeal in London.

She said: "I knew it was going to happen. I'm not particularly concerned about it as I still think they are trespassing. The due process of the law hasn't finished yet.

"I'm not hopeful, but I'll press ahead with my appeal. You can't tell with the Court of Appeal."

A High Court judge, who ruled against Mrs Craven in her bid to stop the work, previously refused her leave to appeal. She is still facing a massive legal bill as a result of her court battle.

Mrs Craven and her son, Alwyn, 20, watched as the company and its contractors moved in on Saturday.

Project manager David Mercer and his team initially waited while Mrs Craven read a prepared statement to them, detailing why she still believed they were trespassing.

In it, she said: "You have had me physically restrained, you have financially ruined us, all as an example to other landowners in case they should think of stepping out of line."

National Grid spokesman Stewart Grant, who was at the site on Saturday, said: "This is a very difficult situation for Mrs Craven and ourselves. If there had been an alternative method of dealing with this, we would have taken it. We very much regret having to enter on to her land under these circumstances, but we have had our rights confirmed by the High Court in Leeds as recently as December 10."

He said the company wanted to carry out the work with the minimum of disruption to Mrs Craven and her family. Mrs Craven hit the headlines in September when she refused to allow National Grid and its contractors on the land in a half-hour stand-off.

Updated: 09:44 Monday, December 23, 2002