Travellers’ seaside rampage aggravated by police failures

A POLICE force failed to grasp the severity of the mayhem caused by a gang of travellers who went on a rampage that forced a seaside town into lockdown, an internal review has found.

Shops, bars and restaurants were forced to close on one of the busiest weekends of the year after 23 motor homes parked up during Cromer’s August carnival this year.

In total, 37 crimes were reported to Norfolk Police including a rape, threatening behaviour and thefts.

One pub landlord was pulled over the counter as some of the travellers demanded money and an Indian restaurant was “ambushed” as about 40 people stormed in, stealing alcohol and upsetting diners.

According to the force’s internal review, published yesterday, the failure of commanders to recognise the tensions in the town meant they sent too few officers to tackle the problem, leaving them in an “impossible situation”.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the rape, but no one else has been brought in. Because the constabulary wrongly assessed events in isolation, it even posted a message on social media stating that the antisocial behaviour was “low level”.

Norfolk Police had been warned by Suffolk Police that the travellers had left Lowestoft after causing disruption there and were heading to Norfolk.

This information was “not recorded on official systems” in a way that allowed it to reach key people within Norfolk Police and resulted in senior officers making initial decisions without knowing all of the facts.

Police decided that the local council should take the lead to move the travellers on, a more bureaucratic and lengthy process, but the force was now aware of “a change in the nature of certain travelling groups”, referring to how new travellers were coming to the county more regularly.

An independent review into the decisions made by individual commanders is ongoing.

Chief Constable Simon Bailey said: “As I have said, we got this wrong and I feel terribly sorry that the people of Cromer feel let down by our response. It is important we take learning opportunities, put measures in place and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”