A family of travellers living on a Green Belt site for seven years have been landed with a High Court judgment to finally force them out.
Patrick Flynn and Selina Diana O’Leary have been ordered out of a caravan site near the Hertfordshire village of Brickendon after a long-running legal battle.
The pair, living with children aged 10 and 14, face being evicted after a ruling by a judge at London‘s High Court.
The site had been officially owned by ex-middleweight boxing champion Billy Joe Saunders – and his former firm BJS Sports has been highlighted in the new injunction, but he was found to no longer be responsible for the site.
The land in Hertfordshire is within the Green Belt and also the Brickendon Conservation Area.
High Court judge Alison Morgan has now ruled that East Hertfordshire District Council can go ahead with evicting the site’s occupiers.
She gave them six months from now to remove the static home that has been there since 2019, court documents show.
She deemed it was ‘necessary to uphold the integrity of the planning system as the conventional enforcement measures have proven ineffective in resolving what is a clear breach of planning control’.
Patrick Flynn (pictured) and Selina Diana O’Leary have been ordered out of a caravan site near the Hertfordshire village of Brickendon after a long-running legal battle
The land at the centre of a High Court ruling was previously owned by boxer Billy Joe Saunders (pictured after defeating Marceleo Coceres in Los Angeles in November 2019)
The sire in Hertfordshire is within the Green Belt and also the Brickendon Conservation Area
Mr Flynn and Ms O’Leary have told not only to leave the site but also pay legal costs of £16,609.
Their legal team argued in their defence that the family should be given more time to stay, with children aged 10 and 14 attending local schools.
Central London-based law firm FTB Chambers, which led the case against the occupants, has posted on its website: ‘The High Court has granted an injunction which requires the cessation of an unauthorised residential use following a long-standing period of non-compliance with an enforcement notice.’
Mr Flynn was described in court documents as a wagon builder and painter, while Ms O-Leary was said to be an vocalist and singer who has performed internationally.
The local authority’s legal action was launched against not only that couple but also BJS Sports and Billy Joe Saunders.
But the judge described how Saunders, 35, no longer owned the land in question and any proceedings against him should be discontinued.
Billy Joe Saunders was officially recorded on Companies House records as no longer being ‘a person with significant control’ with BJS Sports in February 2023.
Mr Flynn, 64, has been living in the three-bed chalet home with his wife and children since at least 2018, according to court documents – with enforcement notices going ignored.
Mr Flynn (pictured) and Ms O’Leary have told to leave the site and pay legal costs of £16,609
Mr Flynn, 64, has been living in the three-bed chalet home with his wife and children since at least 2018 – with planning enforcement notices allegedly going ignored
Mr Flynn was described in court documents as a wagon builder and painter, while Ms O-Leary was said to be an vocalist and singer who has performed internationally
He now says he does not what he and his family can do and where they can go if forced out of their home in the latest action.
He told MailOnline: ‘I’ve been to court and I’ve said what I could to make them understand this is a family home.
‘I’ve asked for six months to find a new place after Christmas as I’ve got enough stress already and the children don’t deserve it.
‘I wouldn’t have minded if the council gave me a place to go on a back road, whether it was an old house run down that I’d have to do up myself – I wouldn’t mind.
‘But we’ve had no help, no support, nothing. Nobody looks after each other anymore. There’s no community.’
The chalet home, off a private lane, has plush grey furniture and is adorned with family pictures.
Several cars sit in the surrounding fields, including a motorhome that Mr Flynn says the family uses for holidays.
Mr Flynn, a builder of horse-drawn carriages, said: ‘There’s 100 per cent a bias about the travelling community – people get an idea in their head and that’s it.’
Patrick Flynn (pictured) told MailOnline: ‘I’ve been to court and I’ve said what I could to make them understand this is a family home’
The chalet home, off a private lane, has plush grey furniture and is adorned with family pictures
He told of being ordered to pay more than £16,600 in costs over the High Court battle and said he had ‘no idea’ where he was going to get the money from.
Mr Flynn said: ‘Now I’m sitting here trying to figure out where me and my family are going to go.
‘Nobody has had a bad word to say about us – we look out for people and I’d do whatever I could do help out.
‘But when we’re not receiving letters and because of that, we’ve not had enough time to look at evidence, what can you do?’
His wife Selina added: ‘I don’t want my children to be homeless. They could have at least explained what we should do next.’
The new High Court judgment by judge Alison Morgan KC described how planning inspectors previously deemed ‘the development to be inappropriate in the Green Belt because it did not preserve openness’.
The inspector also suggested an alternative site could be found for the family even though this was ‘likely to take some time’.
Ms Morgan added: ‘In the 21 months since that date for compliance identified by the Inspector, no steps have been taken by the defendants to comply with any part of the enforcement notice.’
Patrick Flynn (pictured) told of being ordered to pay more than £16,600 in costs over the High Court battle and said he had ‘no idea’ where he was going to get the money from
The new High Court judgment by judge Alison Morgan KC described how planning inspectors previously deemed ‘the development to be inappropriate in the Green Belt’
Patrick Flynn has insisted: ‘Nobody has had a bad word to say about us – we look out for people and I’d do whatever I could do help out’
She stated: ‘I have concluded that the proposed injunction is necessary in order to uphold the integrity of the planning system as conventional enforcement measures have proven ineffective in resolving what is a clear breach of planning control.
‘Whilst I acknowledge that the injunction will impact on the lives of the first and second defendants and their family, I consider that it is a commensurate and proportionate remedy in the circumstances.
‘The evidence demonstrates that the breaches of planning control will continue unless and until effectively restrained by the court and that nothing short of an injunction will provide effective restraint.
‘An injunction is necessary to prevent further harm from occurring and to address the harm which has occurred.’
An East Herts District Council spokesperson said: ‘Moving anyone from their home is not a decision that’s taken lightly.
‘This particular case has been ongoing since 2019, during which time we have repeatedly offered help to the family to find somewhere else to live.
‘We regret that it has taken a High Court injunction to resolve this, but we welcome the judge’s recognition that we have tried for a long time to deal with the situation fairly and proportionately for everyone involved.
‘The injunction requires the unauthorised residential use of the land to cease by 4 December 2025. We have again offered our support to the family should they wish to take that up.’
MailOnline has contacted representatives for Billy Joe Saunders for comment.
