Dale Farm reprieve trio tell of legal scramble to see off bailiffs

Travellers at disputed Essex site face courts again but temporary bar to eviction has lifted spirits As the noise increased at the Travellers’ site at Dale Farm on Monday morning three people slipped away, unnoticed by the media crowd gathered to watch what was going to be one of the biggest evictions in UK history. Mary Sheridan, a 34-year-old mother, known to everyone on the site as Michelle; Candy Sheridan, a Gypsy who had been helping Dale Farm since 2007; and Stuart Carruthers, an expert in IT communications, made their way to Basildon crown court, then Chelmsford county court, then the Royal Courts of Justice, in London. “I was so frightened,” said Michelle Sheridan. “I knew we were fighting for our homes and our communities.” Michelle’s case, compiled by Carruthers and Sheridan without the help of lawyers, was a last ditch attempt to stop bulldozers moving on to Dale Farm, where she had lived with her family for 10 years and given birth to two of her four children. While protesters at the site at Crays Hill, Essex, chained themselves to gates and burnt-out cars, and bailiffs battled abuse to reach the gates of the barricaded plot, the trio made their representations. And just before 5pm the news came through that they had achieved the seemingly impossible: a last-minute stay of execution for Dale Farm. On Friday a judge will look at the case, at the Royal Courts of Justice, brought by Michelle Sheridan and based on the minutiae of the planning processes, and decide if Basildon council has the right to evict 86 families from their homes and clear the former scrapyard. By this stage, the council had expected the eviction to be well underway. Michelle’s case, compiled by Carruthers and Sheridan without the help of lawyers, was a last-ditch attempt to stop bulldozers moving on to Dale Farm, where she had lived with her family for 10 years and given birth to two of her four children. Carruthers, who joined the Travellers’ campaign in March, recalled a sleepless weekend compiling 10 years’ worth of documents – reports, he insists, will reveal that the council did not have the power to clear the Dale Farm site. He argues that the eviction notices handed out by the council are incomplete and do not specify removal of everything from the land. There are reportedly 51 unauthorised home plots at Dale Farm. Though Carruthers is neither Gypsy nor Traveller, he has helped individuals with planning disputes before. “I help people who can’t read and write, and I’m quite good at it,” he said. “I just work out how systems work.” He decided the only way of saving the Dale Farm site was by focusing on the enforcement notices. “Everyone has been forced on the Human Rights issue, without actually asking if the council had the right to do what they said they were going to do. When it became clear no one was going to take up the issue of the eviction notices, we decided to do it ourselves.” With Candy Sheridan he worked throughout the weekend on the injunction application. “My little inkjet printer takes a long time to spit stuff out, there were a few trips to Tesco for more paper, and my fingers were covered in ink from filling the printer up,” said Carruthers. “At about 3am I put it in my rucksack and drove to Basildon.” After arriving at Basildon county court at 8.30am the trio were told to go to Chelmsford, to see a circuit judge. But, fearing the issue was too political to be dealt with at county level, that judge sent them to the high court. “I thought ‘that’s it, we’ll be too late’, said Michelle. “But the judge said calm down, and that we’d been booked in.” Carruthers added that one concern was for his car. “I was more worried about parking than anything else, I was parked on double-yellow lines because all the car parks were shut.” A train trip to London and a dash across the capital by taxi and they were standing before Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart – even as the bailiffs were approaching the Dale Farm gates to issue a notice for the families to leave. “Before we went in I was on the phone to my sister and she said the bailiffs were coming towards the gate. I could hear screaming. It was awful,” said Michelle. By a twist of fate, Basildon’s barristers were in a nearby court for the case of the Dale Farm resident Mary Flynn, whose application against eviction on grounds of her own ill-health had been rejected. “They thought they were winning, but they were losing next door,” said Carruthers. But getting wind of the trio’s case, the council’s legal team briskly entered the court, bringing to the judges’ attention the effect on the public purse – estimated by Carruthers to be £1.2m a day – that each day of delay was costing. The judge ordered an emergency injunction because of fears the council might “go further” than the eviction notices allowed. “We wanted to jump for joy,” said Sheridan. “But we’d all agreed to hold our heads up high and walk out calmly, we wanted to show we were sensible people.” Michelle Sheridan added: “It was a wonderful feeling. We’d got an extra five days to call off the dogs, that felt good.” They might not be held back for long. Basildon council’s leader, Tony Ball, says he is sure the council’s actions will be upheld and that Dale Farm will then have to meet the costs of the delay. “We know what we can do and what we can’t. I’m completely clear that what we are doing is absolutely right. To turn a blind eye to law-breaking is not something I want to be party to.” For the council, victory on Friday is crucial. “If Dale Farm is lost I would not want it to become a case for others to refer to. It’d be a massive blow to the council. We want this to come to a peaceful conclusion but the law must be enforced and Dale Farm must be cleared.” The decision, whether it signals the start of evictions, or another legal delay as the details of the case are once again examined, will be closely watched the world over. The stakes could not be higher, according to Sheridan. “To lose Dale Farm would be heartbreaking,” she said. “But it also sends a message about my community, it sends a message to councils that we don’t need to be tolerated.” Michelle, who moved back to Dale Farm this week in her caravan to await the judgment, feels the decision will affect the rest of her life. “I’m nervous and very worried. Everyone wants this to end now. It’s like we’re in a cage and everyone is watching us, but if we win – I can’t describe it – it would change the lives of lots of Travellers. It would be absolute history.” Dale Farm Roma, Gypsies and Travellers Protest Human rights Housing Communities Local government Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 21, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.