Blackmailed – just to get their village back
Families forced to shell out £100,000 for tiny plot of land... to be rid of notorious gipsy clan who bought it for just £12,000
ITS residents had feared that their bucolic idyll would be destroyed for ever by the travellers’ invasion.
But the villagers of Astley Burf have finally seen off the notorious Doran clan – although their peace has come at a price: £100,000.
Locals dipped deep into their savings to buy back the land that had given the travellers a foothold in this historic hamlet nestled in the Severn Valley in Worcestershire.
The Doran family first hit the headlines at the start of the year when they were deported back to Britain after causing mayhem in New Zealand.
In April they arrived in this picturesque spot and immediately obliterated the peace.
The powerfully built Lawrence Doran and other members of the clan turned up with a bulldozer, which they used to clear a path through an ancient hedgerow.
Then they set about clearing the l and they had accessed of i ts wild plants, gathering them to build and light a bonfire, filling the air with fumes.
Among those looking on aghast was a pensioner couple who knew why the Dorans were there.
In October 2017, in a completely legal deal, Mike and Linda Hughes sold a quarter- acre plot of land
‘They played IRA songs at full volume’
next to their own home to the traveller clan’s matriarch, Barbara Doran, for just £12,000.
Nearly two years later, the Dorans arrived to claim their land.
Having driven a path through the hedgerow to gain access to the plot, they told villagers of their plans to build a large property on the site.
In the weeks that followed they would turn up at all hours of the day and night in 4x4 vehicles, light more bonfires and throw aerosol canisters into the flames, laughing raucously as they exploded.
On one occasion, according to a local resident, they parked a vehicle in the middle of the muddy plot and played IRA rebel songs at full volume on the sound system.
The music blared out until a brave villager confronted them. That villager said yesterday: ‘I told these gentlemen that the kind of behaviour they were exhibiting was precisely why the traveller community had a bad name.
‘They seemed to accept the logic of what I said and, to be fair, they turned it off and we never heard loud music from them again.’
But other examples of anti-social behaviour continued. They were seen regularly urinating in hedges – even in the presence of children – and there were more fires and more exploding aerosols.
But on the weekend of the May Day bank holiday, after villagers l learned d th the D Dorans were planning l i to lay down hardcore on the plot and install several caravans, a squad of them parked their cars in a tight formation at the site entrance to prevent the heavy plant machinery from entering.
At this point, the Dorans made known that they might be willing to leave – at a price.
One local, who like almost everyone in the village wishes not to be named because he fears reprisals, said: ‘They told us they’d go and that we’d never see them again on the condition we paid them £150,000 to buy the land off them. It felt like blackmail but the thought of this family making our lives hell for the rest of our days was unbearable.
‘So we called a public meeting for the villagers and discussed this and other possible courses of action.
‘ We realised we had no legal redress d because b the th D Dorans had bought the land legally and they were entitled to apply for planning permission. In the meantime, we couldn’t prevent them visiting their land and there was little we could do to stop the anti-social element of these visits.
‘So we gave serious consideration to the offer to purchase the land. It stuck in our craw that we’d have to pay so much for a plot they’d bought for just £12,000, but what choice did we have?’
The villagers set up the Astley Burf Conservation Trust and residents were asked to pledge sums they could afford towards a buyout fund. A local chartered surveyor, David Banks, was appointed to negotiate with the Dorans.
Mr Banks, who provided his services voluntarily, helped negotiate a sale price of £100,000. In the weeks and months that followed, 40 villagers pledged between £1,000 and £4,000 each.
One of the trustees, who also does not wish to be named, said yesterday: ‘There are only a hundred or so people living in Astley Burf in total, including children, so for 40 individuals to put their hands in their pockets for up to £4,000 is an astonishing display of community spirit. Many of those who contributed – around 70 per cent – are elderly and retired .
‘Many who put up the money had to make financial sacrifices, such
‘Our houses would have been worthless’
as cancelling family holidays. But mercifully we got there. We raised the £100,000.’
Just over two weeks ago, on July 31, the village trust handed over the money to the Dorans, who pocketed an £88,000 profit.
‘ We presume the Dorans will inform the Inland Revenue and pay any capital gains tax due,’ said another unnamed villager.
The trustee The Mail on Sunday interviewed said that, although villagers felt they had been ‘blackmailed’, the £ 100,000 they have had to fork out had been ‘a price worth paying’. He said: ‘Yes, it hurts to think we’ve been played by the Dorans but the prospect of them in Astley Burf for ever more was unthinkable. Our houses would have been worthless with these people living here. Finally people here are starting to smile again.’