UK News & Investigations

UTTLESFORD Council has secured an interim High Court injunction against further development at the Willows Green unlawful traveller site. Notices about the injunction were placed on gates and fancing at the site late yesterday (May 7 2026). It has been served on one of the landowner, Irish traveller, Anthony Mongan and persons unknown. Anyone who breaches the injunction could face prison for contempt of court. Don't hold your breath.... Uttlesford Council had earlier said in

WHEN an army of travellers used the cover of darkness to start constructing a new unlawful caravan site on a wildlife haven at Willows Green, Felsted, on Friday, they knew what they were doing. The "attack" on the countryside was akin to a military operation and would have involved weeks, if not months, of planning to coordinate about 30 vehicles, including construction machinery, and tens of workers on site at the same time. They also knew by doing it after the council offic

RESIDENTS of a parish which hosts an historic school attended by Oliver Cromwell's sons will be on red alert over the bank holiday weekend amid fears a nearby agricultural field could be targeted for the construction of the country's latest unauthorised traveller site. Felsted is best known for the stunning private school of the same name founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, the first Baron Rich, who served as Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of King Edward VI from 154

ENVIRONMENT Agency (EA) chiefs have praised themselves for shutting a huge suspected illegal waste site a year after first becoming aware of it - which allowed it to mushroom into one of the biggest in the country. An EA spokesman said: "In yet more forceful action, concrete blocks now guard the entrance to a field in the quintessentially English village of Stapleford Tawney, in unassuming stockbroker belt Essex. "A court agreed the Essex land could be closed off, preventing

TRAVELLERS and travelling showmen are cashing in on the UK housing crisis by cramming mobile homes onto their caravan sites and renting them out to anyone in an "illicit" property boom after years of claiming there is a drastic shortage of sites for their own communities. Sites across the country, meant to be occupied by people from the gypsy, traveller or travelling showmen communities under strict planning rules, are increasingly being let out to large numbers of non-travel

A FAR right extremist who set up a gun and explosives workshop on Britain 's biggest travelling showmen's site, as reported by UK News and Investigations last month, has been jailed for 16 years. A sentencing hearing at Kingston Crown Court concluded today, February 12 2026 at Kingston Crown Court. The court heard Thomas McKenna, 60, (above) was converting blank-firing Ceonic pistols imported from Turkey into deadly firearms and making expanding ammunition, for sale to organ

ALLEGED illegal large-scale dumping has carried on at a former traveller site by the M25 for a year despite the Environment Agency (EA) being alerted to it, it has emerged. Two men were arrested after allegedly being 'caught red handed' dumping tonnes of processed waste from a giant lorry onto the former traveller site at Stapleford Tawney, Essex. But, the EA confirmed tonight that it had been investigating the site for a year while the dumping allegedly continued. Thousands

THREE UK-based travellers have been banned from setting foot in their spiritual home as part of bail conditions ahead of a violent disorder trial. Marguerita O’Rourke (née Sheridan), 21, (above) was killed in Rathkeale in a feud related hit and run on December 21 2024. She had given birth to a baby boy Edward just three weeks earlier. Her uncle Danny O'Donoghue, 43, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing her death in October and was jailed for five-an

A "TRAVELLER Town" linked to the families who occupied the illegal Dale Farm development continues to face police investigation due to alleged feuds and suspected links to international organised crime. Rathkeale, in County Limerick, (above) saw its population swell over Christmas as traveller families, who spend the year travelling across the UK, Europe and further afield, returned to attend weddings and funerals. The country town has one of Ireland's biggest Irish traveller

A WATCH store manager who hanged himself after he was tied up during a £1.1million robbery was working in a business that was "run by Maurice Sines as a front for organised crime", a court was told. The three men accused of being involved in the audacious heist from the luxury watch store 247 Kettles, in south west London, were also warned by police their lives were in danger after a "£100,000 bounty" was placed on each of them, Woolwich Crown Court heard. The court heard the