‘Appalling and shocking criminality’ sees police under fire at public meeting at Manea called following weekend of ‘lawlessness’ across Fenland
Fenland has been branded as ‘lawless’ after balaclava-clad men in 4x4s ripped up fields, killed hares and deer, raided petrol stations and set fire to vehicles.
Fire engines were also damaged in what has been described as an “appalling” and “shocking” spate of criminality that hit a large swathe of the district on Saturday.
Around 300 people packed a public meeting to air their grievances over police inaction following the weekend of unprecedented criminal activity which saw many people traumatised and questioning the lack of a police presence.
The meeting called by MP Steve Barclay and Manea Cllr Charlie Marks heard harrowing stories from farmers, workers, and residents of the events of Saturday which saw a convoy of up to 30 cars carrying dozens of balaclava-clad men ripping through fields, tearing up crops and intimidating locals as they speeded through villages – sometimes mounting pavements and driving two a breast.
Among those attending the meeting at Manea British Legion Club was Cambridgeshire’s Chief Constable Nick Dean who had to listen to story after story from people left unprotected by his officers despite desperate 999 calls asking for help.
Manea farmer Robert Sears said he had never seen lawlessness like it – despite having travelled the world.
He said he had 25 4x4s driving up his narrow farm track outside his home. Mr Sears had tried to face them down but said his “belligerence” had resulted in his car being rammed and other damage caused.
But he was not concerned about that.
“It’s not the damage to our property, it's the violation suffered,” he said. Mr Sears made 999 calls and was told police would attend within three to four hours.
“That was Saturday morning, I am still waiting – that’s not good enough,” he said.
Fellow farmer, Matthew Latter, from Sutton Gault, Chatteris, told the packed meeting how he was forced to barricade himself and his young family in their home after more than 70 masked men smashed their way through gates, and moved concrete blocks to access his land.
His family endured more than three-and-a-half hours of mayhem on the land around their home as he made numerous calls to police.
He said: “We had at least 70 people literally take over our farm from 1.30pm to 4pm. There were 13 4x4s. I called the police three times, I gave the What3Words coordinates of exactly where they were but we didn’t have any response – absolutely zero. My seven-year-old daughter was crying and was utterly terrified.
“My question is how bad does it have to be? They had cut through every single gate, moved every single concrete block. We have been left with four vehicles dumped, two have been burnt out, one is stuck but despite all of this we have yet to have a police officer come out to us.”
Leo Butler, from Chatteris, said he had never seen anything like what he faced on his farm as the criminals tore up his fields.
He said: “What I would like to know is where were the police – there were no helicopters, no police cars, not one police officer – nothing. If the police aren’t going to confront these people somebody’s got to.”
That resulted in a shout from the audience that without action next time the police could be looking at a Tony Martin-style incident.
Cllr Marks, who witnessed some of the criminality in Manea, said it was pure luck that no one had been killed or seriously injured.
“We could have been mourning a member of our village today,” he said.
He said the crime-spree began in at Sisco garage in Wimblington, 30 plus cars had then headed down the Sixteen Foot and ended up on Morris’ farm where he said: “They spent about half an hour there and the reports are they were having a picnic, they left there and headed to Fodder Farm owned by Robert Sears.”
Cllr Marks said he watched as the convoy of vehicles mounted pavements, and drove other vehicles out of their way as they sped down Westfield Road doing at least 60mph.
He said one man clearly had a pick axe handle – “you can only imagine what that meant if anyone happened to get in their way,” he said.
One woman described calling 999 as the petrol station at Witcham Toll was being robbed, but was told to call back on 101 as it was not an emergency.
Chatteris councillor Sue Unwin, who also works at one of the town’s garages also had a run in with the perpetrators. She said she has had regular dealings with hare coursers but this was the worst.
She too called 999 only to be told it was not an emergency as the cars drove off without paying for fuel and driving in such an erratic way she feared someone would be hurt.
There was praise from the farmers present for the Rural Crime Action Team that look after rural policing – but Chief Constable Dean told the meeting the team had not been on duty at the weekend.
He said he was there to take the “criticism on the chin” and fully accepted what people were saying about his police force and its failings.
He said the police had received intelligence information that there was to be hare coursing in the Fenland area, but it was a single strand of intelligence and lacked the necessary details to target policing for the weekend.
Chief Constable Dean described the weekend’s events as organised crime and far above the usual level of criminality surrounding hare coursing and was certainly not what they were expecting to deal with.
He said the intelligence did lead to a dispersal order being put in place for the whole of the county which would enable officers to move people on if they were thought to be involved in criminality – but again the audience found it laughable as officers had failed to show when reports of such activity were made.
However, he said there was “no excuse” for the lack of response and that a regional-level enquiry is being launched to investigate what went wrong, especially surrounding the handling of 999 calls.
It was unclear whether a helicopter had been requested to attend the incidents, but as the force relies on a nationally run helicopter it could have been deployed elsewhere. It would be looked into to see if one had been requested, and if it had then why one was not dispatched.
Chief Constable Dean also said he had gone with his “gut feeling” over the allocation of extra resources and his comment that “I perhaps got it wrong in hindsight” brought laughter from the crowded hall.
Questions were asked numerous times about what police resources were sent to deal with the situation, but no clear answers were given.
Supt Ben Martin, area commander for Peterborough and Fenland, admitted he would have expected a 999 response to some of the reports he was hearing from the audience and reiterated the handling of the 999 calls received would be investigated.
After the meeting, which was also attended by Cambridgeshire’s police and crime commissioner Darryl Preston, Cllr Marks said: “Only time will tell if things will change. We will keep the pressure on to get the answers we need, and to ensure we have the policing we need to keep our area safe in the future.”
Mr Barclay said the number of people attending the meeting showed the strength of feeling. He said he was pleased to hear the chief constable acknowledge the police mistakes and a promise there would be a regional-level investigation.
He also hoped that the police would fully investigate the criminality suffered by the residents of Fenland at the weekend to ensure the perpetrators face justice.
Mr Barclay said some of the stories told were horrifying and that he was pleased that those in authority and responsible for protecting the area had attended the meeting to hear first hand people’s concerns and what they had suffered at the weekend.
At the end of the meeting Chief Constable Dean urged people to forward photos, videos and other evidence that might help with the police investigation.
