HOT NEWS
WORCESTERSHIRE PARK OWNERS CONVICTED OF
ARSON AND BLACKMAIL.
The following is a Media Release dated Tuesday 9th September 2008, issued to PHRAA by WEST MERCIA CONSTABULARY concerning a campaign of terror the park owners waged against the residents of The Glen Park/mobile home site at Barnt Green, Bromsgrove.
Operation Kingpin Convictions.
Seven men have been convicted of carrying out a sustained campaign of terror against elderly and vulnerable residents of a mobile home park in North Worcestershire, during which three homes were burnt to the ground.
Following a seven- day trial at Worcester Crown Court, Anthony Bernard Tulley was today convicted of two charges of conspiracy to commit arson and one of conspiracy to commit blackmail.
Douglas Guildford was today found not guilty of conspiracy to commit blackmail, but admitted conspiracy to commit arson at a previous hearing.
The jury was today unable to reach a verdict on charges of conspiracy to commit blackmail on David Hallam and Luke Hardy and Judge McCreath ordered these to lie on file. Hallam had previously pleaded guilty of two charges of conspiracy to commit arson and Hardy had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit arson.
Brothers John Doherty and Simey Doherty had each pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to commit arson and one charge each of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to commit blackmail at an earlier hearing.
Anthony John Tulley (Anthony Bernard Tulley’s son) had pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to commit blackmail.
No date has yet been set for sentencing.
The Glen is a park home site situated in Barnt Green, Wocestershire. In December 2006 the then owners advertised the site for sale at a price of £1.6 million. In January 2007, John and Simey Doherty made an offer of £1.4 million for the site. The offer was accepted, contracts were exchanged and completion was due to take place on the 29th February 2007.
In the early hours of the 27th February 2007, two unoccupied homes at the site were burned to the ground.
The Doherty’s immediately demanded a reduction in the sale price of the Glen and following further threats and intimidation by the brothers, believing the site to be untellable, the owner agreed to reduce the price to £1.2 million. On the day of completion further threatening demands for a reduction in price were made by the Doherty’s, and the owner reluctantly agreed to knock another £60.000 off the price, meaning that the site was eventually sold for £1.14 million, £260.000 below what had originally been agreed.
The Doherty’s then set their sights on The Glen’s residents. In common with most park home sites, the vast majority of the residents were elderly, many being vulnerable and frail.
The economics of park home site ownership are such that the maximum opportunities for profit lie in replacing older homes with new ones, whether to current residents or to new residents if the current ones leave.
The Doherty’s now embarked on a campaign of intimidation to terrorise residents into leaving the site. As part of the campaign they……..
* Told residents their homes would need £20,000 of repairs or they would have to be scrapped. (subsequent surveys of the premises conducted on behalf of the Police revealed them to be entirely sound)
* Sales of homes part progressed were stopped by vetoing the purchase.
* Residents were subjected to abuse, harassment and intimidation.
* In the early hours of the 17th April another home was burnt down. On this occasion Police Officers arrived at the scene within minutes, and caught arsonists Guildford and Hallam before they could leave. They were arrested and subsequently charged.
The impact of the Dohertys’ campaign on The Glens many vulnerable residents cannot be overstated.
* After the arsons many of the residents took to sleeping fully clothed in case there was another attack.
* In total 16 sets of residents moved out of their homes due to the fear and distress caused. Many are still in temporary local authority accommodation, too afraid to return.
* Many of the residents have had their life savings wiped out by bthe cost of relocating or losing the value of their homes.
* Four residents were so distressed and terrified that they sold their homes to the Doherty’s for £1. (The market value would have been £75,000 plus)
Operation Kingpin was West Mercia Constabulary’s 18 month investigation into the events at The Glen. The enquiry was a lengthy and complex one, which required significant co-operation between West Mercia Constabulary and Leicestershire Constabulary.
The Doherty’s denied any involvement in the arsons, but telecommunications evidence obtained by the police demonstrated the extent of their role. They had approached Leicestershire career criminal Anthony Bernard Tulley to carry out the arson attacks on their behalf. Tulley and his son in turn then employed Hallam, Hardy and Guildford to set fire to the homes.
The arsons, combined with intimidation by the Doherty’s, allowed them to terrorise residents from the site.
At the conclusion of today’s trial, Detective Inspector Mark Colquhoun of West Minster Constabulary, Senior Investigating Officer for Operation Kingpin, said. “These were despicable offences aimed at victimising some of the most vulnerable members of our community. Ruining these elderly peoples lives was the desired outcome of the Doherty’s, their tactic of choice being to terrorise the residents from their homes. All this was done purely out of greed and a desire for money; it is difficult to conceive of a more cold-hearted and calculating crime.”
“Park home residents should feel confident in contacting their local police, should they have been subjected to similar behaviour by the residents at The Glen. Rogue site owners must recognise that those who break the law and subject their vulnerable residents to criminality will be investigated, caught and stand to suffer substantial penalties as a result.”
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Background notes to Media Editors accompanying the above release.
(Readers will note that the following background notes vindicate the information published on the PHRAA website regarding the activities of unscrupulous park owners. )
1) The mobile home park industry is a billion pound business. There are more than 2,200parks across the country on which over a quarter of a million people reside.
Park homes have in recent years been increasingly marketed towards property rich, cash poor pensioners. Selling their bricks built home and moving into a park home can free up large amounts of capital allowing an increased quality of life. The proportion of park home residents of pensionable age is currently 68%, significantly above the national average for other types of housing.
The marketing literature paints a picture of contented elderly people living out their twilight years in small happy communities of likeminded people. For the majority of residents living on well run sites , this may be the reality. Unfortunately, for a significant minority, unscrupulous site owners motivated by financial gain make residents lives a misery and subject them to treatment which falls within the scope of criminal law.
2) Park home site economics.
The legislation governing the park home industry is primarily made up of a combination of the Mobile Homes Act 1983 and individual licenses issued by the local authority where a particular park is situated.
The rules this legislation sets out are very different to those governing permanent housing structures and give individual park owners significant power over the homeowners on their site.
* Homeowners cannot sell their homes to a prospective purchaser without the permission of the site owner, giving them an effective power of veto on all sales.
* For any sales that do take place the site owner is entitled to 10 per cent commission on the sale price.
* Any homeowner who wishes to replace their old home with a new one is not free to purchase the new structure themselves. They must buy it through the site owner, who will receive a significant discount from the manufacturing company. They will then sell the home on to the resident at full retail cost.
From the site owners perspective, there are three ways in which income can be generated from a park home site.
* Collecting the monthly pitch fee (approximately £90 per home per month) which generates the lowest level of income.
* Collecting the 10 per cent commission from the sale of existing homes on the site to new owners.
* Making a profit by selling new homes to replace older existing ones on the site. This offers a site owner the best opportunity to maximise their profits. Dependent on the type of new home sold, a site owner might expect to make £45,000 - 90,000 on any single transaction.
Unscrupulous site owners therefore want to replace as many of the existing homes on the site with brand new ones.
They can achieve this in a number of different ways (all of which featured in Kingpin)
* Veto any sales of homes on the site. Though the legislation allows homeowners to challenge any unreasonable veto via the courts, the reality is that given the elderly nature of most residents, the vast majority will not have the will or financial resources to do so. Over time as each new purchaser is turned down by the site owner for no good reason, the spirit and resilience of the resident, trapped in their vown home, will be worn down to the extent where they abandon their home or sell directly for a nominal fee (in Kingpin for just £1). The site owner will place a new home on their pitch and sell to a new purchaser, or sell the old one at a price significantly above what it was bought for.
* Tell residents that their current homes are defective and inform them that they must be brought up to scratch or replaced. Usually, the supposed defect will be either invented or widely exaggerated , and cost in the region of tens of thousands of pounds. Significant pressure will then be brought to bear on the homeowner to either replace the home with a brand new one if it can be afforded, or as is more likely if it can’t , to sell the existing home to the site owner for a nominal fee. They will then replace it with a new one to be sold to a new purchaser, or having carried out few if any repairs, sell on the old home for significantly above what it was bought for.
* Finally, violence, harassment and intimidation. Many elderly people are vulnerable and not able to stand up for themselves. Unscrupulous site owners know this, and use it to their best advantage. A campaign of threats and intimidation, particularly if backed up with individual acts of criminality, will succeed in encouraging residents to leave their homes. In the face of a site owner vetoing any attempts to find a genuine purchaser, residents who have endured intimidation will eventually sell to the owner for a nominal sum.
The Defendants were:
John Doherty, Aged 29 of Hinkley Road, Sapcote, Leicester.
Simey Doherty, aged 21, also of Hinckley Road, Sapcote, Leicester.
Anthony John Tulley, Aged 38, of Turville Road, Leicester.
Anthony Bernard Tulley, Aged 60, of Edgehill Road, Leicester.
Douglas Guildford, Aged 42, of Severn Street, Leicester.
David Hallam, Aged 29, of Ashthorpe Road, Leicester.
Luke Hardy, aged 23, of Cowdall Road, Leicester.
DI Colquhoun is available for any mefia interviews. To arrange these, please contact the press office on 01562 826181.
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ARSONISTS MADE RESIDENTS LIFE A NIGHTMARE. Residents story.
A Droitwich Couple told how their lives were devastated by a terrifying campaign to set mobile homes ablaze on the site where they had lived happily for seven years.
Don Gibbs, a former maintenance engineer, was woken up in the middle of the night to find the next door neighbours home on fire.
He and partner, Patricia Downs were “horrified” to see the sky aglow and another home burning further away at The Glen site in Blackwell, Bromsgrove.
Mr. Gibbs 62 said: “There was hysteria and screaming from the residents. It was horrible. No one knew what was going on. We didn’t go back to bed that night.”
Miss Downes 66 added: “Luckily the fire didn’t spread to our home, but the smoke was horrendous. Everyone was utterly shocked.”
“After that I would go to bed and Don would sleep in his clothes in the living room. If he heard a noise in the night he would go out to investigate.”
A month later, a third home was torched by a gang recruited by two brothers who planned to drive residents out and buy the site cheaply, Worcester Crown Court Heard.
The couple, who left the home they paid £32,000 for in 2001, to live in Droitwich Spa, spoke as a jury convicted the blaze ringleader of conspiring to commit arson and blackmail.
Mr. Gibbs told how they fell in love with the site the first time they went to visit it. “It was pretty and peaceful,” he said. “We felt very safe and I didn’t even bother to lock my car at night.” “Everybody living there looked out for everyone else. It was a real community. There had been no trouble for over twenty years according to many of the residents who expected to live there for the rest of their lives.”
His partner said they knew of at least seven people who had left since the blazes. She said. “The stress was terrible and still effects many on the site. A lot of people living there want to leave after this nightmare. We regularly visit the site to talk to our friends. We still class this as our home. But we came to the trial everyday to put that part of our lives to rest”.
Judge Alistair McCreath said: “ Ruthless arrogance lies behind this story. The organisers thought that no-one would dare to stop them. They didn’t even need to cover their tracks. The two Doherty brothers didn’t mind how they got the price down. They did it by intimidation. But they didn’t sulley their hands with the fires, they got others to do their dirty work.”
Prosecutor Stephen Lineman QC said the brothers wanted to buy the site and the remaining homes at a knockdown price. The blazes were planned to give the site a bad reputation and make the owners and residents anxious to sell.
The above report is compiled using extracts taken from a report on the case which appeared in the Droitwich Spa Advertiser 12th September 2008.
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Excerpts from the “You and Yours” programme broadcast on Radio 4 Thursday 11th September 2008 reporting on the case.
Detective Inspector Colquhoun described examples of the intimidation suffered by residents of The Glen used by the park owners which included, “They would drive round the site staring through peoples windows.” They would tell residents that they had to have surveys carried out on their homes which would cost £20,000. They didn’t need to conduct those surveys carried out and even if they had conducted them they would have cost a fraction of that.” “They told residents that extensions on their properties which were perfectly legitimate were illegal and would have to be torn down”. They prevented residents who were in the process of selling their homes from completing those sales for no good reason at all and obstructed that”. “And you have to remember this was a site where two homes had been burnt to the ground and many of the residents were afraid as to what would happen to them.”
With no chance of selling their homes and already living off the site two residents who could take no more eventually accepted an offer from the Doherty’s to sell their homes.
Julie, (not her real name) Described how Doherty said “I want you to copy what’s there…I so and so give or sell my home to Mr. John Doherty for £1. I wrote down I Mrs. Xxxx xxxx.” Stopping her writing Julie said to Doherty, “I haven’t had no £1 off you.” “He said no, but I’m going to give you a £1 and he gave it me in change and said have a go on the lottery and if you win remember me.”
Reporter….. “So this was your only asset, your Mobile Home?” Julie “Yes” Reporter… “And you let it go for £1?” Julie…” I Know you think I’m Daft, I know that, but you don’t know the fear that we were in. Reporter. ” Besides the fear Julie was also paying two lots of rent and Council Tax.
Another resident Gladys, said “I thought he was just insulting me with this £1 to be honest”. Reporter….”But you were willing to say goodbye to your home?” Gladys. At that time yes, because I was on a pension of £89 a week, my rent was £86 a week I had no money to pay extra Council Tax, I was really in the soup with all the expense and so on, and its really made a mess of my life to be honest at the moment, but it will get better”. Reporter….”Could you not think of any way or any help you could get to avoid letting this home go for £1, this home that you have invested so much time in?” Gladys… “Not at the time no No.” Reporter…. “I suppose unless people have lived through what you’ve lived through and what Doreen lived through you cant really understand why you would let your home go for £1?” Gladys…. “ Well if they wonder about that …..you try it mate”. “You go through that”. “If I was a big burley bloke myself…maybe, but I’m only a little squirt you know and I’m not very fit. “To this day they still own the land it all stands on, they still own it and they can still block sales and they can still do what they want on there.”
Reporter. “Julie and Gladys were both found homes by the local council. Another couple also let their home go for £1.In total 16 people from The Glen asked to be re-housed.”
The programme also invited comments on the case from Ros Pritchard, Director General of the British Holiday & Home Parks Association, one of the two trade bodies who purport to regulate the park home industry including the conduct of park owners.
Ros Pritchard….” I think its one horrific and exceptional case in actual fact it sounds like a criminal case. I think any industry would deplore that such criminals should come amongst their number, we are horrified by the reports of what went on on the park. Reporter…. But we have heard cases like this before, not perhaps exactly as serious as this ,but cases where park owners have tried to hound people off of their sites because they are more interested in getting the profits from the new homes they can get on that site, isn’t that illustrating that the park home industry is set up in the wrong way“? Ros Pritchard…. No I don’t think so because this is the first case I have heard of this nature. Its always been a question, people like this form of tenure. People like their homes and they love the park setting on which they live. What needs to be done, as ever, is that the regulations and the protections in force, are enforced. And this is perhaps an extreme example, but here at least we have seen that the police took action and that the people have been protected.” Reporter… They may have been protected in that the perpetrator’s were caught, those who have left now do not want to go back to a place that holds grim memories and they’ve lost the value of the homes.
PHRAA’s Comments on Ros Pritchards statements….
For the Director General of the largest of the park home industry’s trade organisations (BH&HPA) to which most park owners, good and bad belong, to publicly state that this is the first case of this kind she has heard of beggars belief. Is she really saying that she has no idea what is going on in the industry her organisation claims to regulate? What about the other numerous “mystery” park home fires that have occurred over the years, where the arsonists have not been caught? Has she not heard of them either? No doubt she has not heard of all the other commonly practised rackets including those listed in this case, widely used every day against helpless residents by the unscrupulous park owners. Some regulatory body this is if the head admits she has no idea of what is happening every day in the industry it purports to regulate? Shows how much they care about the residents who keep their members in luxury, doesn’t it?
PHRAA also was very disturbed to note that although Ros Pritchard stated that they were horrified by this case, at no time did she condemn the actions of these or any other unscrupulous park owners, nor did she mention what, if any, action their organisation would be taking to rid this industry of rogue park owners. Remember these two powerful trade organisations BH& HPA and NPHC who are using their power and influence upon government to make sure that any changes to park home legislation continue to favour the park owner.
Reporter….. The Police investigating say that this case shows how little rights people living in mobile homes have. Thats something we highlighted in our sister programme “Face the Facts” last year. Available on the PHRAA Website) when we reported on moves to try and tighten up the law. Since then very little has happened.
Detective Inspector Mark Colquhoun….. “The park homes industry strongly markets park home living to elderly residents as a way in which they can enjoy their retirement years with increased capital and the ability to live the life that they want to live. Many of the officers on the investigation team have been profoundly moved by seeing many of these elderly and vulnerable residents seeing out the rest of their lives in fear and terror and that isn’t right. Its not something that should happen to anybody“.
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We are sure all park homeowners will join with PHRAA in expressing our sincere thanks and congratulations to Detective Inspector Mark Colquhoun and the officers of West Mercia Constabulary involved in Operation Kingpin for a job well done. Their dedication has struck a decisive blow against unscrupulous park owners which we hope will send out a message to others. We must also thank Melanie Abbott, producer of the Radio 4 “You and Yours” Programme for broadcasting the excellent report on the case. Last, but certainly not least we must pay tribute to the bravery of the residents of The Glen for standing up and be counted. Lets hope that they may enjoy peace and quiet in future. They deserve it.
A WORD OF CAUTION TO ANY PARK HOME RESIDENTS READING THIS WHO ARE CURRENTLY LIVING HAPPILY ON A PARK IN PEACE AND CONTENTMENT. YOU MAY THINK THAT ANYTHING LIKE THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN TO YOU. BUT PLEASE BE WARNED. YOUR PARK COULD BE SOLD AT ANYTIME AND WITHOUT ANY WARNING AND THE NEW OWNER MAY WELL TURN OUT TO BE UNSCRUPULOUS AND YOU SUDDENLY FIND YOURSELVES IN A SIMILAR TERRIFYING SITUATION WITH NO ONE TO TURN TO FOR HELP. ARE YOU PREPARED? GET THE STRENGTH OF PHRAA BEHIND YOU NOW. YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE.
Compiled for PHRAA by Ron Joyce. General Secretary. September 2008
To contact PHRAA Phone Ron on 01902 373462.
