The Earl of Cardigan has been acquitted of harassing a former trustee of his 4,500-acre family estate in Savernake, Marlborough, over a broken shower.

The case referred to as the ‘shower saga’ during the proceedings at North Wiltshire Magistrates’ Court in Chippenham this week, heard that Lord Cardigan, 62, was accused of bombarding John Moore, his trustee until a High Court removed him last year, with unwanted phone calls in April 2013.

Lord Cardigan, otherwise known as David Brudenell-Bruce, told the three magistrates on the bench he was penniless and had called Mr Moore to ask to arrange for a plumber to repair the shower at his home in Savernake Lodge, which had been faulty for months, so his wife Joanne Brudenell-Bruce who was pregnant at the time could wash. But, he said, Mr Moore kept hanging up on his pleas for help.

The calls were made to Mr Moore’s work at a London tax court which alleged a total of 69 calls were made over a period of two days, stopping him from carrying out his duties as a senior barrister’s clerk. He claimed he had previously arranged for three different plumbers to fix the Earl's shower but he wouldn't let them in the house.

Mr Moore said the telephone calls had caused him distress and for his chamber to have a communication lock-down. But today three judges came to the decision there was insufficient evidence to prove this beyond reasonable doubt and found Lord Cardigan not guilty of harassment.

The number of calls made was also disputed and both the defence and prosecution found that the Mr Moore's evidence of the call log for April 5, 2013, was inaccurate and contained duplications. There was also no evidence that the alleged calls were made on April 12, 2013.

Lord Cardigan’s solicitor Edward Henry argued the calls, which lasted less than three minutes in total, had spanned over a period of six minutes that afternoon and accused Mr Moore of exaggerating the impact it had caused. He said that Mr Moore was bitter that Lord Cardigan had sought to remove him as a trustee and was on a mission to criminalise him and bully him.

Speaking on the witness stand, Lord Cardigan said he had suffered “unspeakable misery” trying to get Mr Moore to release the funds to get his shower fixed. He said he and his wife also had to resort to using the showers at Marlborough Leisure Centre and their finances were so dire the Earl delivered fish oil as a source of income.

Lord Cardigan, who is estranged from two of his children one of whom is BBC The Voice finalist Bo Bruce, has known Mr Moore for nearly 40 years but Mr Moore said their friendship broke down when he became a trustee of the estate.

The Earl was also acquitted in January 2013 of assaulting Mr Moore.

Yesterday the magistrates also rejected an application from Mr Moore’s solicitor James Burnham to have a restraining order against the Earl.

Speaking to the Gazette after the court case, Lord Cardigan said: “I’m delighted. I simply wanted for all of the winter of my wife’s pregnancy to allow her to have a shower.”