Father forced to beg squatters to get out of his new £1m home through the LETTERBOX

The Daily Mail ^ | February 27, 2011 | Rob Cooper

[LostInBayport]

An Englishman's home is his castle, so the saying goes.

After squatters moved into John Hamilton-Brown's new £1million five bedroom home he has been forced to beg them to get out through his letterbox.

The group of foreigners were granted legal aid to fight to stay - while he was forced to represent himself.

The father-of-two was having the property renovated for his wife and two young daughters before they moved in when a dozen people from France, Spain, Poland and England sneaked in during the night.

The occupants are part of a growing army of squatters banding together and seeking out empty homes.

It emerged today that squatters, often young people, are swapping information online as they move from property to property before they get evicted.

[LostInBayport]

"One of the squatters, who said he was 20, told the Sunday Telegraph: 'There are many empty homes and we should be able to live wherever we want.'

Apparently socialism doesn't creep anymore in Britain. It just breaks in and sets up house. When I read this article, my mind flashed to the grubby, greedy "Tax the Rich" protests in Wisconsin. A major segment of the American left would agree with this jaw-dropping insanity from across the pond. You can bet there are liberal judges just salivating to make rulings sanctioning this type of crime.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sounds like it's 1776 in Jolly Old England.

[huldah1776]

Just goes to show you what happens when you lose your right to defend your home.

[Mr. Mojo]

The Jolly Olde entitlement mindset.

[KoRn]

[rbg81]

That is a pretty jaw dropping story. Eventually, they’ll be able to just withdraw $$ from your bank account to. After all, you HAVE the $$ and they NEED it.

[tenthirteen]

We fought and won the war for what, this?

[Farmer Dean]

1.Find an open window.
2.Lift German Shepherds up and through the window.
3.Stand back and watch squatters exit bloody and screaming.

[LostInBayport]

That is a pretty jaw dropping story. Eventually, they’ll be able to just withdraw $$ from your bank account to. After all, you HAVE the $$ and they NEED it.

That will probably be the next defense for identity theft or credit card fraud. To these people, a perceived need justifies all manner of crime.

[A_perfect_lady]

OMG... I would end up in prison, because I would most certainly lose my mind and murder the lot of them by any means possible. I would be so furious, I would say goodbye to life and freedom and truly, truly murder them, premeditated, knowing full well what would happen to me.

[Jack Hydrazine]

The UK is leading the way for the death of the West. If America was smart we’d cut all ties with them and then nuke them off the face of the Earth.

[GQuagmire]

Are flamethrowers illegal in England? /half sarc

[DeFault User]

Has anybody heard of “adverse possession”?

Originally, it was to protect the current property holder from some ancient ancestral claim to land that had not been recognized for years/centuries. Now it seems that time frame may be down to a few days/weeks in the UK.

The world is upside down.

[I still care]

You know what it reminds me of? Atlas Shrugged.

The useless and needy have all the rights, and the producers just have the fruits of their work stolen.

[GQuagmire]

One of the yutes....ahole

[LostInBayport]

I like it.

As an alternative, since his name is on the title, the owner should call every utility -— water, electric, telephone -— and tell them the house is being renovated (true) and that all of those items need to be shut off for an indeterminate time due to the complexity of the repairs.

[Walts Ice Pick]

After squatters moved into John Hamilton-Brown's new £1million five bedroom home he has been forced to beg them to get out through his letterbox.

Well, just how does this guy think these poor squatters can fit through his letterbox?

[LostInBayport]

I almost posted that photo instead of the warning letter!

I read the Mail a lot, and some of the articles (and a lot of the comments) talk about travelers, or gypsies. They don't really live anywhere, and just move from place to place and usually create problems in all of them. This guy looks like one of them.

[fella]

This reminds me of the well off family in “Dr. Zhivago”.