Latest news with #drugdealing
The Sun
10 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- The Sun
War erupts in UK's ‘caravan city' as van-dwellers torch rival homes & turn hippy paradise into rat-plagued ‘no-go zone'
RESIDENTS who live near the UK's biggest 'caravan city' say the once serene grassland has become a no-go area overrun by warring drug dealers, council-tax dodgers, human waste and rats. Bristol has the highest number of van dwellers, believed to be a population of 680-700, and the majority are parked on the roads weaving around Durdle Down, known as The Downs. 14 14 14 The sheer number of vans and the problems they allegedly bring has resulted in fury from residents and visitors, who are now locked in a battle to reclaim their once-tranquil 442 acres of common land. One claims it's reached a "crisis" point, with 'slum-letting' rife, drug-dealing and arson attacks on vans turning it into a "no-go zone". In February police and the fire service were called to the Clifton Downs where a caravan was in flames. Engineer Tony Nelson, 52, is a local resident who launched a petition on which has almost 6,500 signatures from 44 different countries. Supporters, calling themselves the Protect the Downs group, aim to force the council to clamp down on the five-hour parking restrictions, effectively pushing van dwellers out. Tony told The Sun: 'We feel it's a shame that such a rare and precious space is allowed to fall into massive disrepair. 'There have been van dwellers living here for a couple of decades, and we're quite proud of the fact that people have passed through and visited and stayed a couple of nights. 'But the council stopped enforcement a few years ago, and people have gone, 'That's a nice green space, I fancy living there' and 'I don't fancy paying rent anymore', or, 'I'm struggling to pay rent, so actually, I'm going to check out, and I won't pay council tax, and I'm going to go live in a van.' 'That has just proliferated and grown, and everyone's jumped on that bandwagon. What's gone from a couple of responsible van dwellers has ballooned into what I can only describe as a crisis.' The Downs, with its tree-lined streets and a view over the Avon Gorge, is used for educational visits, with Sir David Attenborough once calling it the 'jewel in the city's crown'. We live in 'Caravan City' - locals moan but it's too expensive to rent 14 14 But now there's an underbelly of crime and filth, according to locals, who pay around £4,000 a year in council tax. Tony said: 'It's too scary, because there are people who don't want to be found by the police. We know there's drug dealing that goes on, there's fighting between people who do that. 'They burn each other's caravans down. They've said things like, 'We've got axes and baseball bats.' It's a frightening place. 'It's not a them and us situation, and a lot of people would be offended if they felt that they were being tarred with that brush, but we can't say that it's safe. They burn each other's caravans down. They've said things like, 'We've got axes and baseball bats.' It's a frightening place Tony Nelson, local resident 'There are elderly and single females who really don't want to use the Downs, especially at nighttime, because it's quite a scary place. 'You can't let your kids play in the bushes because it's full of human waste. "There are rats because of abandoned caravans and piles of rubbish. 'Children don't want to walk to school this way anymore, it's a long way round for them now, and it pushes around onto more dangerous roads. "This should be a nice, simple, safe cut through, but it's scary for them. 14 14 'It's not just about the people around the downs. There are 30,000 people in the parishes that surround the downs. Most of those people don't have gardens. They live in flats. 'People want to come and use this space, and they're being denied that privilege because people think it's okay to come and check out of society, live here and not pay the council tax. 'Imagine if I quite fancied living in Kensington, what would happen if I just rocked up there in a caravan?" Locals also suspect 'slum-letting' is taking place, reporting a high-end silver Range Rover dropping caravans off to house outsiders in. On the sunny day The Sun visited, a Range Rover was parked between two empty caravans covered in tree seeds, suggesting it hadn't been driven in a while. Meanwhile travellers camped on the grass for a month until a week ago, churning up the land on their quad bikes and reportedly abusing residents who tackled them. A recent fire brought emergency services racing to The Downs when a barbecue lit by a group of students set fire to the crisp dry grass. But the permanence of the caravans is what concerns residents in one of the most affluent areas of the city. Passing through The Downs on a 10,500-kilometre cycle trip across Europe, retired headteacher Mark Ingram, 65, from Leicester, was shocked to see the number now lining the streets. 14 'I've come through Portugal, France and Spain. I've seen this in the news briefly but it's a stunning sight. I've not seen anything like this. I've been astounded. 'I feel for the residents and for the people living in these conditions, being hated by the people who live here. It's not good. 'We should look to Europe to see how to solve this housing crisis.' Some of the vans and make-shift caravans house professionals, including a maths tutor and IT expert, working from their converted vans, lorries or horseboxes. But many are vulnerable, suffering from mental health issues, homelessness and drug addiction. 'Slum letting' 14 14 Michael Freeman says he lived in his caravan in Warminster until he was evicted from the land it was on by the owner, who then towed him to The Downs and left him there. 'He told me I was going to live on a proper site, and dumped me here five weeks ago. I have no heating, no water and have to walk to town to find food," he explained. 'Being left here badly affected my mental health and to be honest, if it wasn't for my dog Bobby, I wouldn't still be here. 'I can understand why the locals don't like it - I don't even want to be here, I want to be housed. Being left here badly affected my mental health and to be honest, if it wasn't for my dog Bobby, I wouldn't still be here Michael Freeman, van dweller 'I am with the homeless shelter St Mungo's, so I can shower there, but it's not a great situation to be in.' But other van-lifers and residents think the Protect the Downs group is fuelling hatred. An anonymous van dweller said: 'Most of us keep ourselves to ourselves and keep the area tidy, put rubbish in bins and don't cause any issues, but we're all being tarred with the same brush. 'Groups like [Protect the Downs] fuel discrimination. 'I don't work because I'm neurodivergent, and a lot of the other people living here probably have some mental health issues. 'We're not stopping people visiting The Downs, and where else would we go? 'There are proper sites for van-dwellers, called Meanwhile sites, but they're pretty dangerous places and nobody would want to live there.' 'Ignorant' 14 14 A local resident and member of the Protect The Downs Facebook group, who asked not to be named, said: 'The group poses as one that is fair and is only concerned with making the Downs a better place for all. "However the message so many of the members spread is one of hatred and discrimination towards those whose lives they don't understand, lives they won't even try to engage with. 'Just the other day Frankie Turton posted about a litter pick up the van dwellers do once a week asking if people would like to join. 'You would have thought those so keen to complain about the problems would be the first to join the pick-up, not one of them has volunteered. 'It would have been an ideal opportunity for everyone to get a better understanding of each other's points of view, but that isn't what the group really wants. 'The group wants to remain ignorant to the struggles of others and to a different way of life.' 'Robust action' 14 14 The group is currently seeking quotes from barristers as it intends to take the council to court if it does not enforce the parking restrictions. Councillor Barry Parsons, Chair of the Homes and Housing Committee, said: 'We understand that the current situation is not sustainable, and the council is taking a proactive stance on addressing issues. 'We know that we need to reduce the need for so many people to live in vehicles, and remain committed to increasing the number of well-built, affordable homes in Bristol so that people have a safe and secure place they can call home. 'People living in vehicles can experience poor health and other vulnerabilities, and our focus must be on finding sustainable solutions and support options. "However, if an encampment, or individuals within an encampment, start to have a negative impact on the area in which they live, we need to make sure we have a robust and clear policy for when we will take action.' An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: 'We're aware of public concerns relating to antisocial behaviour in certain parts of The Downs. 'We have frequent contact with partners, including Bristol City Council, and will continue to work with them over the summer months to tackle the issues raised with us. 'The Downs is an area of high footfall so our officers carry out regular high-visibility patrols there to help reduce antisocial behaviour, provide the public with reassurance and to act where any criminal offences may be seen. 'Anecdotal information around issues is useful to help shape our plans for dealing with issues in any area. 'However we'd continue to urge members of the public to report crimes to us, ideally while they are taking place, because that way we can take robust action and secure the evidence necessary to achieve a criminal conviction where the offence must be proven beyond all reasonable doubt.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Peterborough home closed over drug dealing and violence concerns
A house has been closed for three months over concerns about drug dealing and home in the Millfield area of Peterborough can only be accessed by emergency services, the city council and people with police consent, until 21 the house on Windmill Street without permission could result in a fine, imprisonment or both, Cambridgeshire Police force said it had obtained the closure order from Huntingdon Magistrates' Court to protect residents from antisocial behaviour. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
The drug crime chaos on Sadiq Khan's doorstep
'You can actually see people dealing drugs, they don't even hide it,' Mohammad Zahir says, nodding towards an alleyway on his street in Tooting. 'They come in expensive cars, I don't think they are scared of the police.' Sure enough, a black BMW prowls around the corner, music blaring before dropping off a passenger who disappears down the backstreet. Moments later, he saunters back and is whisked away with the sun still high in the south London sky. 'It is common on this street,' says Mr Zahir, an NHS mental health worker, adding: 'You can hear them from the window, sometimes they become violent. We would like to see more done.' The 32-year-old is among those sounding the alarm over rampant drug dealing and antisocial behaviour on Sir Sadiq Khan 's own doorstep, at a time when the Labour Mayor of London is calling for a relaxation of the laws around cannabis possession. The mayor, who grew up on the Henry Prince Estate and still lives in the borough, said this week that possessing small quantities of the drug should be decriminalised. His calls have since been stubbed out by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, who said the Government had no plans to change its policy. Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, was also quick to note that the police was not 'calling for' a change to the law as drug use is considered one of the main drivers of crime, violence and antisocial behaviour. David Sidwick, Dorset's police and crime commissioner, went a step further in demanding that cannabis, currently a class B drug, be upgraded so that it commands sentences on par with crack cocaine and heroin. Tooting residents have blamed cannabis for criminality and antisocial behaviour plaguing the area. The latest figures from March 2025 show a 11.4 per cent annual increase in crimes in Tooting – the 10th biggest increase of all 67 London constituencies. In March alone on Mr Zahir's Undine Street, one road back from the bustling Tooting Broadway area, drug offences surged along with antisocial behaviour, violence and sexual offences. Another Undine resident Hayden, 29, is not surprised by the increase. 'That makes sense,' he says. 'I have noticed more people on drugs.' Down the road on Tooting High Street, Jafar Khan fears legalising cannabis possession could tip the scales in his battle against the drug-fuelled criminality aimed at his mango stall. 'There is a lot of shoplifting. They then sell it to buy drugs,' the 29-year-old says, adding: 'By letting them do it, it will only increase. 'If they allow it, it will fire everything up. It should be banned completely.' The mango seller, who commutes from Croydon, has lost faith in the authorities. 'No one shows up for us here. In Croydon, the crime rate is high but the police are there. Not here,' he says, before taking aim at the mayor. 'He is focusing on reducing traffic and congestion zones but not this. It is not safe. He is focusing on how to make London look good but the crime is getting worse.' Sir Sadiq has come under fire for ploughing resources into waging a fully-fledged war on motorists with his flagship Ultra Low Emission Zone policy while underinvesting in front-line officers despite crime reaching levels not seen for a decade. Chaudhry Babar, a rival mango seller operating solo from the back of a van, is fed up of being robbed. 'If I leave for one minute, someone will take my mobile or if I have not locked the cash register,' he says. Mango season is four to five months long, he explains, and thefts are on a monthly basis. 'I am robbed four or five times a season.' He adds: 'It is people smoking doing this, people whose work is only to rob.' In the more affluent area of Furzedown, where Sir Sadiq lives, residents are concerned that legalising cannabis would embolden users to smoke in public more. Tina Ena said parks such as the Furzedown Rec, home to a popular children's playground, would be better off without second-hand smoke. 'Don't expose other people who don't want to be involved,' the 69-year-old says. Sir Sadiq backed decriminalisation after his independent London drug commission, led by Lord Falconer, the former Labour justice secretary, recommended that the possession of small amounts of natural cannabis should no longer be a criminal offence. The report said that stop and searches were disproportionately targeting ethnic minority groups and in particular London's black communities despite them being 'no more likely to be found carrying the drug'. In 2023-24, some 26 per cent of stop and search procedures conducted on suspicion of drugs involving a white person in London led to police finding drugs. This figure rose to 28 per cent for a black person and 34 per cent for a mixed race person. The Met conducted 76,068 stop and searches last year, almost double the next highest total of 38,879 by Merseyside Police, yet would no longer be able to deploy stop and search solely on the suspicion of cannabis possession under the report's recommendations. Some in Tooting believe that legalising cannabis possession would ease the burden on police, after the Met Commissioner warned years of underfunding and a population boom had left Scotland Yard ill-equipped to deal with rising crime. The number of officers in London has fallen from 402 per 100,000 of the population to 362 over the past 15 years, according to Telegraph analysis of data. At the Wheatsheaf pub in Tooting Bec, Oliver Francis says he would welcome legalisation as it would free up police 'time and resources'. The 55-year-old social worker says: 'Most people's cannabis use is no one else's concern. Police have far more important things to be getting on with.' Gesturing to his pint of lager, he added: 'Alcohol is a lot more dangerous than cannabis.' Michelle Scantlebury, a Jamaican food seller on the outskirts of Tooting Market, said Sir Keir Starmer should take a leaf out of Jamaica's book when it comes to cannabis. 'In some countries they have legalised it. It would be helpful,' the 52-year-old said. While smoking cannabis in public remains illegal in Jamaica, possession of up to 57g of cannabis has been reduced to a petty offence incurring a fine of J$500 (£2.33) and no criminal record. More than 20 countries have now decriminalised or legalised recreational use of cannabis, including Canada, Mexico and Germany. A spokesman for the Met said the force was 'aware of concerns raised by the local Tooting community about drug dealing and antisocial behaviour' and tackling criminality remains a 'key priority for officers'. He added: 'Officers are also working closely with the local council, as well as with shops and businesses that we know are targeted the most by criminals.' A spokesman for Sir Sadiq said that under his new Police and Crime Plan, officers would be visible on the streets and working with communities 'on the issues that matter to them, tackling shoplifting, antisocial behaviour and drug dealing'. He added: 'Nothing is more important to the mayor than keeping Londoners safe.' A French pensioner in Tooting Bec, who wished to remain anonymous, was more laissez faire about legalisation. 'Almost everybody I know has smoked dope. If it is legalised, people might go on to stronger things,' she said. 'But it smells better than those terrible vapes.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Essex Police reshuffle creates more neighbourhood officers
A police chief said reshuffling his officers would help them tackle drug dealers and Police reprioritised 74 officers into dedicated neighbourhood teams across the county on decision came in response to a government pledge of having more visible Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said: "They can help solve problems, they understand the issues and they're reducing crime." Launching the reshuffle in Basildon, Mr Harrington vowed: "I know they will make a real difference."Neighbourhood officers, of which Essex already has more than 3,300, are tasked with reducing criminal anti-social behaviour, enforcing orders and targeting repeat also work with councils and investigate robberies, drug dealing, sexual offences, shoplifting and vehicle crime. Mr Harrington said: "They will tackle the issues that communities need them to tackle. "Sometimes that'll be in full glaring view of the public, sometimes that'll be watching out of the corner of their eye to catch someone who doesn't want to be caught." 'Difficult challenges' But the senior officer, who assumed the post in 2018, wanted assurances from the government that his force would be "fairly funded" to keep police on the force almost axed all 99 of its community support officers in January, before reversing that decision when it received £100m funding from the it did have to cut about 65 staff Harrington echoed his long-held complaint that Essex Police needed more money, revealing it faced an estimated £20m budget gap next year."With that money we can do more, it will make a difference," he said. "Without it, I'm faced with difficult challenges."A Home Office spokesman previously said the force's funding for 2025-26 was £431.1m, which was £24.9m more than in added: "We are ensuring we deliver on our safer streets mission, with an extra 13,000 neighbourhood police officers, community support officers and special constables, all of whom will play a vital role in bringing visible policing to our streets." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
Pakistani drug dealer can stay in UK ‘to teach son about Islam'
A Pakistani drug dealer has been allowed to remain in the UK because of his role in talking to his son about Islam and his culture. The Home Office ordered the deportation of Muhammad Asif Karim, 43, after he amassed seven convictions for a total of 21 offences, including supplying the class A drugs heroin and cocaine, for which he served a four-year jail sentence. He won his appeal against his removal after arguing that it would breach his rights to a family life under article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). An upper tribunal accepted it would be 'unduly harsh' on his son if he was to be deported to Pakistan, even though his child was being 'largely brought up by his white British mother'. The son gave evidence to the immigration court that his father 'is able to talk to him about Islam, about Pakistani culture and his own upbringing'. The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example uncovered by The Telegraph in which illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have been able to remain in the UK or halt their deportations on human rights grounds. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has announced plans to curb judges' powers to block deportations with new legally enforced 'common sense' rules to clarify how judges interpret article eight of the ECHR, and to strengthen the public interest test. Karim came to the UK on a visitor's visa in 1988 at the age of seven and never went home. After his prison sentence for drug dealing, he avoided deportation by becoming a witness in a murder trial. However, he was thrown off a witness protection programme after continuing to offend. Even though the Home Office issued the deportation order against him in 2015, it was not until 2023 that his appeal against his removal was considered by a first-tier tribunal. It backed his claim on article eight grounds but the Home Office appealed against that decision. The upper tribunal heard that he had avoided criminality for a decade, enjoyed a 'parental relationship' with his son and had lived in the UK for 26 years, amounting to most of his life. After being told about his talks with his son, the tribunal accepted that these were 'matters fundamental' to the boy's identity. The Home Office argued that this was 'conjecture', with no independent corroboration from a social worker or psychologist. The upper tribunal was 'satisfied' that the lower court was entitled to 'place weight' on the boy's evidence. 'We do not think it controversial to suggest that such matters would have significance for this child, who is himself of Pakistani origin, but is being largely brought up by his white British mother,' it said. The tribunal also noted that the boy's mother felt that Karim had a 'positive impact' on the child. It said he 'could talk to his son about studying and job choices, he could teach him to shave and talk to him about things a mother could not'. 'Unduly harsh' to deport It therefore accepted that it would be 'unduly harsh' to deport Karim, and rejected the Home Office appeal. 'Although there is a particularly strong public interest in removing someone who habitually committed crimes over a 14-year period, his last offence was committed over 10 years ago and he has complied with all probation and rehabilitation requirements, as well as the reporting conditions imposed on him by the Home Office,' it said. 'He has throughout the relevant period suffered from significant and debilitating mental ill-health, and although this was not a factor that the first-tier tribunal thought significant, it is right to note that there has been an inordinate delay – over 10 years –- on the part of the Secretary of State in effecting this deportation. 'There was also evidence that he was himself a survivor of violence, trauma and criminality, all of which had played a role in his troubled youth.'
