Mobberley traveller sentenced for caravan injunction breach

A traveller has been given a suspended prison sentence for pitching caravans without planning permission on green belt land that he owns in Cheshire.

Michael Maloney moved on to land in Mobberley last year after his home in Essex was destroyed by arsonists.

A judge said he was guilty of "repeated disobedience" of an injunction to stop him developing the site.

Mobberley councillor Charlotte Leach said the sentence gave "some sense of justice for our local community".

Mr Maloney bought the land in August 2019 and he moved his extended family to the site in August 2020 after their home near Bishop's Stortford was destroyed in an arson attack.

Planning consultants acting for Mr Maloney said the fire had left his family with a "desperate" need for accommodation, and they had moved to Cheshire to "rebuild their lives".

But Mr Justice Turner, sitting at Manchester Civil Justice Centre, said Mr Maloney had moved his family into six caravans on the land "in the full knowledge that this use of an agricultural site was in clear and obvious breach of planning control".

It comes after Cheshire East Council obtained an injunction last August which ordered Mr Maloney to stop any further building work at the site.

The authority took Mr Maloney to court for breaching the order by moving seven more caravans on to the land.

Finding him guilty of contempt of court for "disobeying" the injunction, Mr Justice Turner said Mr Maloney had had "no intention" of complying with it and that excuses he gave to council workers were "lies".

Sentencing him to an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, the judge said Mr Maloney's actions had caused the residents of Mobberley "considerable and wholly foreseeable concern and anxiety" but he had shown "little remorse".

Representing Cheshire East Council, barrister Jack Smyth said Mr Maloney had "a sword of Damocles hanging over him" because he risked going to prison if he continued to breach the council's injunction.

A planning application for three gypsy pitches on the site, submitted in August 2020, was turned down by Cheshire East Council in December. Mr Maloney has appealed against the decision.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]