TRAVELLERS holding terrified villagers to ransom after buying land for just £12,000 are demanding £5million to leave. The Doran family, who were deported from New Zealand after causing carnage, descended on a quiet Worcestershire village after “conning” on a local family. They snapped up the quarter-acre plot in sleepy Astley Burf for just £12,000 […]
TRAVELLERS holding terrified villagers to ransom after buying land for just £12,000 are demanding £5million to leave.
The Doran family, who were deported from New Zealand after causing carnage, descended on a quiet Worcestershire village after “conning” on a local family.
They snapped up the quarter-acre plot in sleepy Astley Burf for just £12,000 but are now threatening to build on the land unless locals cough up a bumper sum of cash.
Lawrence Doran told The Sun Online: “We can ask £5million if we want to.
“We can ask whatever we want for the land because we own it.”
Villagers fear their peaceful hamlet could be ruined by the rowdy travellers unless they hand over the cash to stop them building.
They claim the Dorans have been lighting huge bonfires on the plot and throwing in aerosol canisters that explode.
Locals also say the family who sold the land were “tricked” over the purchase after a supposed “reputable small businessman” who had “good intentions” made the offer.
But they were horrified to learn their new neighbours were the notorious Doran family, with unruly clan matriarch Barbara Doran, 55, listed as the new owner.
A bulldozer has already ripped through a hedgerow to flatten the land and now Lawrence is threatening to build a five bedroom house unless his inflated offer is met.
One family friend, who wished not to be named, said: “The family believe that false pretences were used to acquire the land.
“If they had known who Barbara really was, they would have cancelled the sale. They feel conned that they didn’t know the true identity of the person who now owns the land.
“They are devastated and feel tricked.”
THE Doran clan were thrown into the spotlight after being labelled “trash” and “worse than pigs” during a recent trip to New Zealand.
The family, dubbed “the unruly tourists” by Kiwi media, had been been accused of trashing a beach, running out on a cafe bill, damaging an apartment and stealing a journalist’s phone.
One member of the family was detained for thieving four cans of Red Bull from a service station.
One of the family’s children was filmed threatening to “knock the brains out” of locals who challenged their behaviour during a week-long trail of chaos.
It got so bad that the family were even served deportation notices by Immigration New Zealand.
The Dorans have already paid £9,000 for a tennis court-size piece of land in the village Dough Bank, in Worcestershire, just six miles away.
They are now demanding more than £600,000 to return it and leave.
Now residents in the nearby roads of Dough Bank and Malvern View say they have to put up with a raft of problems with their new neighbours.
After buying the plot more than 20 members of the family moved caravans, 4x4s and building machinery on to the site, often blocking the narrow lanes.
Patrick Doran then posted letters through the doors of the 22 households warning them he would sell the land to another member of the traveller community if they failed to pay.
Terrified locals say the family have allegedly been scratching their cars and pooing in school playgrounds as they cause carnage in the picturesque village.
Lawrence has now said he wants to sit down with his neighbours to talk about a way forward and “come to a fair agreement if they don’t want travellers in their village”.
He said: “We would respect their decision as they have lived their a long time. But the way they have treated us, it ain’t right.
“We’ve done nothing to them people. We are just like anyone else. We’ve just bought some land. What did we do wrong? Nothing.”
