A PRACTICAL joker had a taste of his own medicine when his friends gave his garden a makeover...while he was on his honeymoon.

Shaun Parker saw his garden transformed into a “travellers’ site” while he was away with his wife Catherine.

The 48-year-old, who has played post-wedding pranks on his friends for about 20 years, returned from Herefordshire to find a trailer parked in his drive in The Street, Weeley, complete with a fence, logs and compost.

His car was also dumped in the back garden.

Friends came up with the idea after Shaun had a run-in with travellers who parked on his land in Brightlingsea.

His pals used a lorry to move the props into place and even roped in his 18-year-old son, James, to help out with the work to transform the garden.

Shaun, who once painted his brother’s house yellow with pink spots and installed a pond and a motocross track in friends’ gardens, said he expected to be paid back for his earlier mischief when he married Catherine, 41, last week.

He said: “I guessed something was coming.

“I had warned Catherine they were likely to do something, but we were both completely gobsmacked when we got home.

“I think they have been quite ingenious. It’s actually quite tasteful and they must have put a lot of work into it. Unfortunately, I now have to clear it up.”

His brother Chris said: “It was payback. He has always been keen to get involved with previous tricks. He knew he had it coming.”