'Campaign of fear' targeted elderly

By Melanie Abbott
You and Yours, BBC Radio 4

This home in Bromsgrove was destroyed. Picture: West Mercia Police

Seven men have been convicted in connection with arsons and blackmail, which police say were part of a campaign of terror to force elderly residents off a mobile-home park and buy the land on the cheap.

The Glen mobile-home park in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, was an idyllic setting where many residents had lived happily for 30 years.

All that changed when it was sold last year to John Doherty and Simey Doherty - two brothers from Leicester.

They began a campaign to get the mainly elderly people living there off the site.

During the first four months of 2007 there were three arson attacks in the middle of the night. The residents, terrified at the prospect of further fires, began blocking up their letter boxes and sleeping in their clothes.

The Dohertys wanted to drive people away because an empty site is a lot more profitable because of the huge profits that can be made replacing an old mobile home with a new one Judge Alistair McCreath

Gladys, who did not want to give her full name, said: "I have never been so frightened in my life, never. I just couldn't stay in the house any longer."

There was a general air of intimidation - stones were thrown at windows, people peered in, strangers wandered around the site.

Many of the residents were trying to sell their homes - but the Dohertys blocked the sales, saying the homes were not fit for habitation or thousands of pounds would need to be spent on surveys.

Eventually Gladys and two other people signed away their homes to the Dohertys for £1.

Gladys said: "To me it was blackmail. But I just felt I had no other option. I know it sounds daft giving a home away for £1, but I just felt there was no other way."

The police say the motive for the Dohertys was trying to get as many homes off the site as possible so they could be replaced with new homes.

The profits from buying a new home from a manufacturer and then selling it on to someone else can run into tens of thousands of pounds, which is a lot more than the rent from the existing homes.

The mobile homes in the park were ruined. Picture: West Mercia Police

Judge Alistair McCreath, who heard the case at Worcester Crown Court, said: "The Dohertys wanted to drive people away because an empty site is a lot more profitable because of the huge profits that can be made replacing an old mobile home with a new one."

In his summing-up, he continued: "A ruthless arrogance lies behind this story, with a feeling on behalf of some of the participants that no one would dare do anything to stop them.

"Many of them were driven form their homes and some of them effectively gave them to the Dohertys."

Detectives who investigated the matter said they had been shocked at the tactics used against vulnerable people.

'Cold-hearted crime'

Det Insp Mark Colquhoun, from West Mercia Police, said: "The park-home industry strongly markets itself to elderly residents as a way to enjoy their retirement years.

"Many of the officers on the investigation team have been profoundly moved by these residents seeing out the last years of their life in fear and terror.

"These were despicable offences aimed at victimising some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

"Ruining these elderly people's lives was the desired outcome of the Dohertys, their tactic of choice being to terrorise the residents from their homes.

"All of 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."

In total 16 people out of 38 on the Glen mobile-home park asked to be rehoused by the council because they felt they could no longer stay there.

Now the police will be pursuing compensation on their behalf.

Jury decisions

At the start of the trial, John and Simey Doherty, who are 29 and 21 years old respectively and both from Hinckley Road, Leicester, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson, conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to commit blackmail.

After a seven day trial at Worcester Crown Court, Anthony Bernard Tully, 60, of Edgehill Road, Leicester, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to commit blackmail.

His son Anthony John Tully, 38, of Turville Road, Leicester, had admitted to being guilty of the same charges.

The court found Douglas Guildford, 42, of Severn Street, Leicester, not guilty of the blackmail offences. He had previously admitted conspiring to commit arson.

David Hallam, 29, of Ashthorpe Road, Leicester and Luke Hardy, 23, of Cowdall Road, Leicester pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit arson. But the jury was unable to reach a verdict on charges of conspiracy to commit blackmail for the two men.

All seven men will be sentenced at a later date.

You And Yours will have more on this story in its programme broadcast at 1204 BST on Thursday on BBC Radio 4.