Disabled 74-year-old attacked after she tried to stop invasion
A PENSIONER who singlehandedly stopped travellers from setting up a camp on a nature reserve demanded the police be given greater powers.
Sarah Freeman, who is blind in one eye and needs a walking stick, was knocked over and her false teeth flew out during the altercation last year.
But the 74-year-old stood her ground and the travellers gave up their planned invasion when the police finally arrived.
Miss Freeman believes it would have taken the police and the local authority months to move the travellers from Hilly Fields in Colchester, Essex, if they had set up camp. She told the Mail yesterday: ‘The police do need more powers.
‘They have to go to court to get it done legally unless the travellers are causing damage.
‘I can understand why a lot of people want the police to have stronger powers to move them on.
‘I would not object to the travellers at all if they weren’t so destructive. When I was young gypsies respected the environment. Nowadays, they leave endless rubbish behind. They cut trees down.’
Asked about her intervention in June 2017, she added: ‘I would do it all again.’
Retired postal worker Miss Freeman, who lives alone in Colchester following the death of her long-term partner, was left with bruised arms following her intervention.
Two men admitted assault and were handed fines and community punishments.