The applicants sought to test the human rights compatibility of the section when applied to gypsies. The travellers sought to stay on land within the district. The local authority used its policy, and agreed to tolerate the encampment for a short time. There was a serious incident with police officers being held temporarily. After refusing to leave, police raided the encampment. Held The section had to be construed tightly since it created a criminal offence. 61(1) requires that the trespassers have not complied with the occupier’s request that they leave as a condition of the making of a direction by the police The question was not whether the section infringed rights, but whether a direction given under the section was an infringement. A landowner requesting trespassers to remove their goods from his land is not infringing the right to possession of goods. The section provided remedies and was proportionate. Their presence on the land was temporary, and the encampment was not their home within the article, but there could be an interference with family life. In this case though the travellers had not been given opportunity to comply with the request for them to leave, and the reaction of the police was disproportionate. The direction was not valid.
Judges:
Justice Stanley Burnton
Citations:
[2001] EWHC Admin 1039
Links:
Statutes:
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 61
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Crime, Human Rights, Land
Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167345
