East Sussex County Council has started legal proceedings to re-open the path, which had been blocked by fridges, a barn, barbed wire and a gate as part of a row with local ramblers.

Van Hoogstraten is currently serving a prison sentence for manslaughter

The multi-millionaire was jailed for manslaughter

The Council had intended to re-route the footpath but its plans were rejected by the Court of Appeal in November.

Judges upheld a challenge by rambler Kate Ashbrook, who led a campaign by the Ramblers' Association to re-open the 140-year-old right of way.

The path, known as Framfield 9, had been closed for more than a decade.

It crosses the estate of van Hoogstraten's partly-built neo-classical mansion, near Uckfield, which is reported to have cost £40m so far.