Uncertain times for travellers and gypsies

A traveller all her life, 69-year-old Mary Ann McCarthy is proud to show visitors around the place she calls home.

"It used to be a dirty scrapyard, but we cleaned it up. Each family has their own deeds," the grey-haired grandmother said, as we strolled through the sprawling site of caravans and mobile homes at Dale Farm, on the outskirts of Basildon, Essex.

"The government at the time said let gypsies and travellers provide for themselves and so we did," she added.

But for eight years Mrs McCarthy and her neighbours at Dale Farm, part of which is designated green belt land, have faced the threat of eviction by Basildon District Council. Their final legal challenge was lost in the House of Lords in May last year.

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