From the Burton Mail
The itinerants packed up and left yesterday, only 24 hours after police raided the site in the car park adjacent to Burton Library and the Washlands.
Officers conducted searches of the caravans and vehicles after receiving a tipoff that members of the group were involved in ‘long-term fraud’.
A man and a woman, both aged 45, were arrested on suspicion of fraud offences but have now been bailed by Staffordshire Police pending further inquires.
A spokesman for the force told the Mail: “We can confirm that officers have conducted interviews with the pair that were arrested and they have now been released on bail pending further inquires.”
It is believed the arrests were linked to a major long-term fraud investigation by Staffordshire Police.
The Travellers finally moved of their own accord, despite originally refusing to leave the site where they arrived in the early hours of Sunday morning with four caravans and several other vehicles.
Officers from East Staffordshire Borough Council served the group with enforcement notices to leave by noon on Tuesday, but they failed to meet the deadline — causing the authority to take the matter to the county court in a bid to evict them from the site.
Police intelligence on members of the group led to officers swooping on the site, where they filled evidence bags with an array of items following forensic searches by a specially trained team.
The group still refused to move on but after papers were filed with the county court, with a hearing date set for next Tuesday for the issuing of an eviction notice, the itinerants dispersed in the early hours of yesterday.
East Staffordshire Borough Council told the Mail it did not wish to make any further comment on the matter.
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