Terror on Easington streets in clash of gangs

Aug 26 2008 by Neil McKay, The Journal

LOCALS and travellers fought a terrifying series of pitched battles in residential streets.

Five men were taken to hospital after the two gangs armed themselves with baseball bats, golf clubs and sticks embedded with spikes.

Hundreds of travellers set up camp in Easington Colliery, County Durham, last week without permission.

Violent scenes at the former colliery site overlooking the North Sea during the miners’ strike were depicted in the film Billy Elliot.

Travellers traditionally hold a Bank Holiday Monday horse fair at Seaham, five miles along the coast, but were refused permission by the landowner.

Shortly after midnight yesterday rival factions fought a series of street battles among terraced rows in Cornwell, Cardiff and Corbett Streets.

The violence, described by police as a major disturbance, may have been sparked by an accusation that a traveller had stolen a local man’s car.

A spokesman for Durham Police said: “Before the start of the disturbance, police had arrested a man for allegedly stealing another man’s car, and for assault.”

He said one injured man, aged 26, was in Newcastle General Hospital with serious head injuries. His condition was described as stable.

Detectives intend to question him as soon as he is well enough.

Another man, 45, was being treated in Sunderland Royal Hospital for wounds to his head and neck. Three others, aged 42, 33 and 21, were treated at Hartlepool University Hospital for minor facial injuries.

Four men, aged from their 20s to early 40s, were arrested for violent disorder and detained for questioning. Yesterday afternoon many travellers, in horse and cart or traditional gypsy-style wagons, were leaving Easington.

There was a visible police presence in the area, with scene-of-crime officers examining the streets.

One young local man said: “The travellers began giving us some chew, so the local lads fought back.”

The District of Easington Council last week issued requests to the travellers to consider local residents after setting up the illegal camp.

Travellers who had remained on the site declined to discuss the disturbances yesterday.

On Sunday, when the traditional fair was held, locals appeared to welcome the visitors.

Mother-of-two Nicola Glaister, 39, who lives in Alan Street directly opposite the site, said: “It is the most exciting thing that has happened in Easington for a long time.”

Carts and painted wagons poured out of the colliery site for a four-mile circuit along Station Road through Grants House, Little Thorpe, Easington Village, and back down Seaside Lane to the fair.