The couple installed one of the dishes on their rented property but the landlord ordered them to take it down. They refused and were later thrown out of the property.

But judges in Strasbourg ruled that the Swedish government had failed in its ‘positive obligation to protect’ the couple’s right to receive information. It found that satellite dishes come under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The guidance has angered ministers who fear that listed buildings and conservation areas could be blighted by the large metal dishes.