ILLEGAL traveller camps and squatters will escape eviction for months to come while judges decide if moving them on will breach their human rights.

The length of the delay became clear yesterday in the case of the Maloney family, who have been evicted more than 50 times and cost the taxpayer an estimated £300,000.

The Court of Appeal ruled that their local council was right to throw the Gyspy family off public playing fields, but then took the unusual step of sending the case to the House of Lords for a final decision.

In a groundbreaking case, five members of the Maloney family claimed that their rights to a home, family life and privacy had been breached when they were evicted from the playing fields in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Lord Phillips, the Master of the Rolls, found against them, but agreed that they should appeal to the House of Lords for a more authoritative ruling on an issue that would affect many cases.

Until the law lords reach their decision on whether they or the European Court of Human Rights has primacy in English law, attempts to evict Gypsies and squatters from local authority land will be hamstrung for fear that any rulings will be quickly overturned.

The Maloneys were evicted from playing fields in Spinkwell Lane in October last year, having arrived in June, when the site was occupied by other travellers. The family argued that their human rights to respect for home, privacy and family life had been infringed by the eviction, particularly in the light of their medical and welfare requirements.

At the Court of Appeal in London yesterday Lord Phillips ruled that Leeds City Council had “an absolute right” to the property and that the eviction was justified. Yet he recognised that there was a conflict between English law and the European Convention on Human Rights and said that it was timely that the House of Lords should be asked to decide between them. The court was told that there was a legal precedent from the House of Lords dating from 2003 supporting a council’ s right to possession of its own land. But since then, a European Court of Human Rights ruling recognised the “vulnerable position” and laid down that Article 8 of the convention ensured that the British Government had a “positive obligation” to “facilitate the Gypsy way of life”.

Local authorities were dismayed by the decision because they fear that until the law lords reach judgment, probably in the autumn, they will be helpless to get rid of illegal encampments, which often cause misery to neighbouring residents. There are an estimated 4,000 travellers’ caravans on illegal encampments.

Ashley Underwood, QC, representing Leeds, said: “The delay before the case is decided is liable to stop all possession proceedings dead in every county court in the country.”

His warning was echoed at the Department for Constitutional Affairs. It said: “It’s quite possible the House of Lords judgment could have the effect of holding up some cases simply because they will want to wait for the Lords judgment.”

Keith Lomax, solicitor for the Maloneys, said: “The House of Lords is going to have to decide on this. It affects the entirety of English law in relation to human rights.”

He said that if the family failed in the House of Lords, they intended to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

TRAVELLING PEOPLE

• The size of the Gypsy and travelling community is between 200,000 and 300,000 people, according to the Commission for Racial Equality
  
• Romany Gypsies are by far the largest group. They have been in England since the 16th century and have been recognised in law as a racial group since 1988. Irish travellers, who have been in England as a distinct group since the 1800s, received legal recognition as a racial group in 2000
  
• In 1967, there were 14 council sites for travelling caravans. England now has about 300 council sites, with about 5,000 caravan pitches. Other authorised sites are privately run
  
• Only about 30 per cent of local authorities have a written policy for traveller accommodation. Only 22 per cent have a forum where Gypsies are represented
  
• In 1987, a report found that the life expectancy of Irish travellers was about ten years shorter than the settled population

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