Evicted Travellers slam 'disgusting' treatment by council - Essex

From the Brentwood Gazette

A TRAVELLER evicted from his home in Ongar has admitted: "I don't know where my daughters are, I don't know where they have gone."

Patrick Gammell Junior was one of around 70 Travellers who fled the site in Epping Lane after Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) took them to court for breach of an injunction.

The High Court banned the group from pitching up but they returned in August this year.

After being summoned back to court on November 13, representatives Patrick Gammell and Patrick Donovan were thrown in the cells while the judge deliberated their case, a situation described as "petrifying" by one of the men.

Speaking to the Gazette, a tearful Patrick Gammell Junior said: "I don't know where my daughters are, I don't know where they have gone.

"My kids have been taken out of school and won't get an education.

"It was petrifying – the women just took their kids and ran.

Patrick Gammell Junior's father Patrick Gammell is co-owner of the land in Stapleford Tawney which is known as Birchfield.

Looking back at the moment Judge Seymour QC locked him up, Mr Gammell said: "It was one of the scariest moments of my life – I have never been in jail before and I have never been a criminal.

"We thought he must be joking when he passed down the sentence. It was a very nerve-racking few hours.

"We were falsely imprisoned, it wasn't the fault of the judge – Epping Forest got it wrong and our barrister had to get us freed.

"We were sentenced and released on the same day – I was in jail for five hours."

Judge Seymour later suspended their sentences and the two Travellers freed, on the agreement they vacate the site by 2pm on Wednesday.

Mr Gammell, who was in the process of hitching up his caravan when the Gazette spoke to him on Friday, continued: "The treatment of us by the council has been disgusting.

"They dared us and they threatened us that if we moved anywhere else in Epping they would get us.

"They stole our land, kicked us out of our home and stole our chickens. The treatment has been awful."

The Birchfield Traveller site has been the subject of legal action since 2006.

Leader of EFDC, Councillor Chris Whitbread, said: "I want to thank Judge Seymour for upholding the injunction and sending a clear message that the laws which protect our green belt and countryside apply to us all."