Let us build or we’ll call in the gypsies
A LANDOWNER left villagers horrified after he threatened to move gypsies on to a field opposite their homes unless they backed his house-building plan.
Wayne Rushton posted “threatening” letters to the residents of the close in the village of Broughton Astley, Leicestershire.
Mr Rushton’s warning told how he was seeking permission to build 12 homes and outlined what would happen if his bid failed.
He wrote: “We shall invite some of our gypsy friends to station themselves on the land for as long as they wish to stay.
“We will provide a new water supply for the gypsies.”
Blackmail
He said the one-acre site would be “left to overgrow into waste land” if he and business partner David Hayes failed to get what they want.
The letter, dated January 22, added: “We hope you will support our pending planning application and avoid us having to take the above actions.”
Residents were told they would get £250 if they wrote to the local council supporting the plan.
Mr Rushton later withdrew the cash offer because it could be “misconstrued as a bribe.”
One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “When you have written evidence of a threat and blackmail, and bribery all at once, it seems crackers. We do all feel quite vulnerable.”
The resident said Mr Rushton was not a familiar figure in the village. He added: “We don’t know who he is. We just know he is not a particularly nice person.”
Another said: “We’re shocked and speaking to police and the council. It’s caused quite a stir.”
Harborough District Council said: “We have written to the landowner in question stating that the letter he sent is highly inappropriate.”
Police said: “The person who contacted police was given initial advice that no criminal offence had been committed.”
Mr Rushton, 54, of Cannock, Staffs, who has been dealing in property for 34 years, said he regretted sending the threatening letter and was drunk at the time.
He added: “A local councillor called me telling us not to bother applying for planning permission. He said he was sat on a planning committee and there is no way they would allow it. It really put my back up. The £250 was more of an incentive for amenity – we wanted them to support us.
“I must admit, when I wrote it I was under the influence of a drink. It was really just off-thecuff and probably a mistake.
“I did the second letter the next day saying we retract the £250.”
He added: “It is not like, at the end of the day, we are horrible people. It is our intention in the near future, with a re-designed layout, to contact the local community to have a meeting to see what they want.”