A humane way out of
the housing crisis
Libby Purves
Page 29about 65 per cent of Traveller
children are persistently absent from
school; that they have the lowest
attainment of all ethnic groups
throughout their school years and
are far more likely to be excluded.
Are we to be surprised when they
choose crime?
The status quo is not working for
anyone. We need a new contract
with Travellers. Instead of transience
and lives lived in the shadows we
must do more to encourage
permanence and lives lived in
contact with wider society —
especially the education system. Toachieve this the state must offer
carrot as well as stick, not just extra
police powers to move camps on but
somewhere to go to. Local
authorities should be obliged by law
to find space for authorised sites. In
return for pitches with proper
sanitation and energy facilities, each
site must have better contact points
with the local authorities,
particularly schools.
As laid down by the UN, the
European Court of Human Rights
and Uncle Tom Cobley, it is the right
of every child to receive an education
— and as a society we must do better
at enforcing this right, whichever
sensitive feathers are ruffled.
We do the Traveller community —
or its children — no favours by
allowing this uneasy status quo to
continue, silenced by fear. When a
horrendous crime such as the killing
of PC Harper shines a spotlight on
aspects of life in our country that are
utterly unacceptable we have a duty
to pay attention and to act.Let’s not be afraid to challenge Traveller culture
PC Harper’s death shines a spotlight on lack of school and structure that leads some in these communities to a life of crime
those in Traveller communities are
hardly “living their best lives”.
Travellers die about ten years earlier
than the rest of us. They have higher
rates of chronic illness. Their suicide
rates are six times higher.
You might argue that they choose
to live like this, but the babies born
into that life don’t. Many are
destined to repeat the same pattern:
leave school in your early teens, drift
into a life of odd jobs and petty
crime, never move beyond the circles
you were raised in. As long as the
culturally sensitive force-field exists
around Travellers, these children are
abandoned to a fate that should not
be tolerated in 21st-century Britain.
It is a scandal that some Gypsy
and Traveller children are taken out
of school at primary age; that some
start work as young as ten; thatAlbert Bowers, left, and Jessie Cole
laughed and joked throughout the trialsqueamishness is down to two fears.
First, the fear of retribution. After
the verdict on PC Harper’s death it
emerged that the judge, Mr Justice
Edis, brought the first trial to a
temporary halt over an alleged
potential plot to intimidate jurors.
Extra security measures were
brought in. Jurors were referred to by
number not name. One juror was
dismissed for acting oddly in court,
mouthing pleasantries at the
defendants. Whether she was
motivated by misplaced friendliness
or fear of someone up in that public
gallery we do not know, but most
will not be shocked by revelations of
intimidation.
The fear of the bullet, the knife,
the burnt-out car; this helps the
lawless elements of Traveller culture
maintain a certain power, and gives
the law-abiding majority of
Travellers a terrible name.
The second fear is that of being
labelled racist. Since the Equality Act
2010 recognised Gypsy, Roma and
Travellers as ethnic minorities, race
has been used to shield this culture
from due scrutiny. Sensible questions
about why those within these groups
are more likely to be in prison, more
likely to be illiterate or more likely to
suffer domestic violence prompt
cries of racism. In April a Channel 4
Dispatches programme titled The
Truth About Traveller Crime was
dubbed “dehumanising” by activists
and investigated by Ofcom.
Desperate not to offend,
the authorities turn a culturally
sensitive blind eye.
The fears hush most into silence,
and the silence means the stand-off
between Travellers and the rest of
society continues uneasily. Many feel
disquieted to see the mobile homes
rolling on to a local beauty spot, a
portent too often of littering, mess,
anti-social behaviour. Meanwhile‘L
ife is slippery... take my
hand.” The note from PC
Andrew Harper given to
his bride on their wedding
morning. Take my hand
for decades, for a life of dinners at
home and holidays abroad, possibly
children and grandchildren, sharing
the minutiae of each other’s days.
He couldn’t take her hand for
long. Four weeks later PC Harper
was intervening in the theft of a quad
bike when he became entangled in a
rope attached to the getaway car and
was dragged a mile to his death. A
week on from their first wedding
anniversary Lissie Harper stood
outside court and said that she had
put her “faith in the justice system... to ensure these men were made to
repent for their barbaric crimes”.
Repent? They couldn’t keep the
smiles from their faces. The
convicted three acted with all the
jollity you might expect of teenagers
pouring out of the pub. Laughing,
joking, revelling in the attention.
It was the same throughout the trial.
Even while PC Harper’s tortured
body was compared to a “deer
carcass” the smirking continued.
When the verdict of manslaughter
was handed down the public gallery,
packed with their supporters,
erupted in cheers.
Several reports on this case were
careful to brush over certain details.
They mentioned that Thames Valley
police had raided the Four Houses
Caravan Park — but not that the
caravan park was a Traveller site,
or that these three young men were
from the Traveller community.
Some may ask if this is relevant.
Others may feel that to bring up
the men’s background betrays an
ugly old prejudice.
It is important to state that it is
not communities that commit crimes
but individuals. Those convicted are
squarely Henry Long, Albert Bowers
and Jessie Cole, not thousands of
innocent people who share their
heritage. Tarring all Travellers with
the brush of these men’s callousness
is as unfair as tarring all Catholics
for paedophile priests or all Muslims
for terrorist attacks.
Yet to completely ignore the
cultural context of this crime is
wrong. Henry Long, the ringleader,
was removed from school at the age
of 12; he followed his father and
grandfather into the thieving “trade”.
Albert Bowers left school at 11 and
before the trial had already picked upthree youth convictions. These
young men could not read or write.
For years they had not known
school or structure. Their education
was in petty crime.
Such problems do not solely
beset Travellers but they are far
more prevalent among Traveller
communities. If we want to be a
country where all are treated the
same, where all live by the same
rules and where the state does its
best to furnish each with a decent
chance in life, we have to end the
squeamishness that prevents open
talk about Travellers. ThisThese men could not
read or write. Their
education was in crime
Suicide rates among
Travellers are six times
higher than average
Comment
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Fo ge s@clarefogesthe times | Monday July 27 2020 1GM 27