The legal battle being fought by the Clarkson family over public rights of way at Langness is a step closer to completion.

TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, and his wife Frances, had applied to the courts to bring a petition of doleance against the Department of Infrastructure and the man who led a public inquiry into the paths.

The report from the public inquiry was published in May 2010, but the family waited until April 2011 to ask permission to bring a doleance claim out of time.

In response, the government was forced to wait to officially designate the paths as public rights of way.

Hearing the case, Deemster Doyle was told the Clarksons believed inspector Roy Hickey's public inquiry had erred in law and the department was wrong to rely on it.

To support the case for a late petition, Frances Clarkson claimed the matter was in the public interest as it had been featured in local media and debated in Tynwald.

But the petition was brought after the legal deadline for a petition of doleance had passed, and Deemster Doyle said he could see no good reason for extending the deadline and allowing the claim.

He dismissed the Clarkson's case.