Operation Witchhunt?

A Gypsy community in Hertfordshire claims a campaign of constant surveillance, raids and police harassment has made its life a living hell, reports Jake Bowers.

Britain’s 350 council run Gypsy sites don’t often attract a lot of good attention.  Some view them as a refuge for Gypsies and Travellers, others as reservations onto which Gypsy people have been forced as their way of life is outlawed, but to some they are viewed simply as a source of crime, grime and social problems.

But last summer, as Britain’s Olympic team headed off for Beijing, the Holwell Lane Gypsy site near Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, became known as the home of British Olympic Boxer Billy-Joe Saunders. The community proudly threw open it’s doors to all who were interested. But it wasn’t journalists who came visiting recently.

 
At 6am on November 7th, an estimated 120 police officers came calling. The Hertfordshire Constabulary officers were joined by staff from Trading Standards, Revenue and Customs, the National Plant and Equipment Register and the RSPCA. Eight people were arrested and weapons were found on the site. But one community member claims the raid is just the latest incident in a campaign of harassment and surveillance and he says this is making life a “living hell” on Holwell.

 
Tom Saunders says he wouldn’t ever want to stop the police doing their job catching criminals, but as a legitimate business man and proud father of a British Olympian, he thinks his community deserves far more respect. Like many residents of Gypsy sites across Britain he claims heavy handed police raids are a sledgehammer being used to crack a nut, which indiscriminately affects all those living on a site. But he says the November 7th raid is just the latest and largest incident in a campaign of harassment targeting his community.

 
“The gavvers have made it a living hell on here,” says Tom. “If I could move off here, I’d go but there’s nowhere else to go.” Tom says a closed circuit television camera at the entrance to the site monitors everything the inhabitants do.

He says the police wait for drivers to leave the site in order to pull them over. He’s found officers wandering around his plot early in the morning and that patrol cars regularly shine bright lights into his chalet windows at night. But the raid on November 7th went further than ever before.
“It was complete overkill and the worse raid we’ve ever had” says Tom. “They ripped the doors off of caravans and forced young girls to get out and get dressed in public. They raided all the plots they could, not just those they had warrants for.” His own plot was searched, paperwork was confiscated and has recently been returned, but no charges have followed.

Saunders says the raid was part of Operation Manhunt, a local campaign to target those involved in distraction burglaries, but feels it has turned into more of a witchhunt specifically targeting Gypsy communities. “They are torturing us all on here. Something has to be done to stop it,” says Tom.

A spokesperson for Hertfordshire Police says: “Police executed a search warrant at a site just off the A414 Roundabout near Holwell Lane at 6am on Friday, November 7.”
“The warrants, which were in relation to rogue trading, firearms and the proceeds of crime, were executed at six residential properties at the site. A number of vehicles were also searched during the operation.”
“During the search a Samurai sword, machete & knuckle duster were seized. Other property, including Rolex watches and a caravan, were also seized. The RSPCA seized twenty-seven birds protected under the Wildlife Act.”

“A total of eight people were arrested for fraud offences, and Abraham Lee, aged 34, was arrested and charged with possession of a nine offensive weapons.”