Couple's nightmare as travellers 'attack them 230 times and leave beheaded squirrel on doorstep'

A couple who live next to an illegal travellers' camp have told of their terror after allegedly suffering more than 230 attacks in four years - and even having a beheaded squirrel left on their drive.

David and Jill Walsh believed they had found their "little bit of heaven" when they moved into their new house.

But their lives became hell after a band of Irish travellers arrived two years later and built an illegal camp next door to the property at Wickford in Essex.

Since 2004, the couple have logged more than 230 separate incidents in a grim diary that catalogues gunshots, death threats, intimidation, criminal damage, trespassing and littering.

Police have dealt with 12 major incidents including gun battles and stabbings in the area, which is now considered so dangerous that postmen refuse to deliver there. Utility workers will turn up only with a police escort.

Mr Walsh, 56, a semi-retired driver, said: "Why should anyone have to live like this? The authorities have not taken enough action to stop this nightmare."

His 54-year- old wife added: "Originally incidents were not reported to the police.

"We believed that by dealing with it ourselves we could avoid the current situation of reprisal, intimidation, aggression and abuse. Sadly, this has not proved to be the case."

The couple's 14-page log includes 64 instances of gunshots or attacks on their bungalow with air pistols, catapults and fireworks.

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There have been 11 acts of intimidation, involving cars being driven at them, a hangman's noose left in their garden and death threats.

Twenty-seven incidents of criminal damage range from broken windows to egg throwing and a demolished front wall.

Other entries include 31 trespasses by abusive children, 20 incidents of litter, faeces or dead animals being deposited on their land, and six thefts.

The couple paid £220,000 for their three-bedroom detached property in 2000. The travellers arrived two years later. At one stage, up to 250 were living nearby.

Council bailiffs evicted most of them in 2005 but plans to move on the rest were halted last year when a judge ruled it would be "unlawful" because of planning applications and appeals.

The Walshes decided to speak out to coincide with the start of a public inquiry over seven of the illegal plots opposite their home.

Mrs Walsh, a part-time receptionist, said: "We wanted to live in the Green Belt. We put all our savings into this house. It was beautiful when we moved here, all lovely green fields.

"Since then I've been told I will die a slow painful death, I've had children threaten to beat me to the ground, I've had to jump in a ditch to get out of the way of a car.

"Our house is now worth less than 50 per cent of what it should be worth, so we are trapped."

Essex Police said they had increased patrols to combat the problems.

Superintendent Glenn Caton said: "Unfortunately, this diary is an accurate picture of what they are facing and my heart goes out to them."

Katherine McCann, a mother of four who is fighting to stay at the camp, accused the Walshes of exaggerating their claims.

"It is mainly minor stuff to do with naughty children," she said.