Gang of Romanian gipsy squatters ‘targeted several houses’
A gang of Romanian gipsy squatters that moved into and wrecked the home of a woman while she was away for the weekend may have targeted a number of houses, it has emerged.
Julia High, an immigration officer, returned from a night at the Proms to find a family of eight had moved into her home of 30 years.
A CIVIL servant returned from a weekend away to discover squatters had invaded her Leytonstone home.
Julia High, 55, was horrified to discover a family of eight had moved into her Leytonstone property and ransacked her possessions while she was away visiting her parents earlier this month.
The group claimed that Ms High had agreed to rent the home and even produced a fake tenancy agreement, but were evicted by police the next day after Ms High secured a court order.
Startled neighbours were told by the squatters that Ms High had died and her son had given his consent for them to move in – even though she does not have any children.
She said: “It was insane that I had to spend the night at my neighbour’s house while other people went through my things next door.
Ms High, who works with the UK Border Agency but is not an immigration officer as has been reported, says when she gained acces to the house again many of her valuables were stolen and much of her clothes ruined.
She added: “I’m just trying to salvage what I can now. So much has gone and it’s going to be a big job.
“I just feel very lucky that the courts were so wonderful and quick or I could have been sleeping on my neighbour’s sofa for a very long time.”
She added that police told her there was no further action they could take against the family.
Now they have been evicted but it has emerged that at least two other properties in her area have suffered the same fate.
The squatters all claim to have nothing to do with each other but neighbours have seen them coming and going between houses and at least two have the same bogus tenancy agreement.
Miss High, 55, said: “This is totally insane that you can get away with this.
“If you burgle people’s stuff and wreck their home and leave you can be arrested.
“But if you do the same and stay then you can get away with it.
“The same thing seems to be happening everywhere.”
The group appears to have found a loophole in the law that involves producing for inspection a tenancy agreement, real or not.
The document, easily downloaded from the internet, renders the police powerless to do anything until the actual property owner contests the contract.
In Miss High’s case they claimed to have rented her house off her son who claimed she was dead.
She is obviously very much alive and has no children, yet it still took days to get them out and they have faced no repercussions.
In two other cases within a mile of her house in Leytonstone, east London, the process is still ongoing as the owners are abroad.
Here the squatters claim to have no links with Miss High’s house yet neighbours say they have seen people come and go between the properties.
The tenancy agreement produced in one of the other properties even has J. High down as the landlord.
The squatters claim it is them that have been duped by unscrupulous landlords pretending to own the properties.
Miss Carmen Dragoi, 35, a mother-of-four, who squats a property recently bought by Dr Karol Szlichicinski, said: “I am angry with the agent.
“I paid him 1300 pounds and he gave us the key. What am I and my children to do now?”
The cleaner said she rented the Victorian house from a man who stopped her in the street.
A similar story was told by squatters in another four bedroom property nearby.
The house is occupied by a mother of six, Enescu Maria, 36, from Romania, who claims she is renting the property.
She said, through her brother as she has no English, that her family moved in a month ago and she paid £2,000 to a man she claimed was related to the owner.
He drove to the house to collect rent but she did not know his name.
She said: “I have nowhere else to go. If I leave my children will sleep on the streets. They go to school nearby. We have not done anything illegal.”
Dr Szlichicinski confirmed he was starting legal proceedings to have the squatters removed from his home.
