Gipsy squatter gang 'targeting empty homes and moving in'

Fears were growing today that a network of Romanian squatters is targeting homes in east London.

Three houses in Leytonstone have been invaded by eastern European families who claim to be living there legally. One victim is believed to be an elderly woman visiting relatives abroad after her partner's death.

Yesterday the Standard revealed how an immigration officer returned from an evening out to find gipsies in her house. Julia High had to get a court order to evict them from the Ashville Road property, but neighbours have complained of the same problem.

A £325,000 house in Connaught Road was owned by a John Adams who died two years ago, shortly before his 70th birthday. Neighbours say his grieving partner Claire went to visit her family abroad about 18 months ago. Her home was invaded about four months ago, but Claire, believed to be from
Mauritius, has not yet returned.

Asim Iqbal, who lives nearby, has seen children cycling between that house and one in Kimberley Road.

The group in Kimberley Road, said to have moved in two weeks ago, produced a fake tenancy agreement using the name Julia High. She has nothing to do with that property.

Mr Iqbal said he called the police after a van pulled up and 12 people went into the Connaught Road house, but they produced a tenancy agreement apparently showing they were paying £900 a month.

He said: "The police told me they could not do anything unless the owner contacts them.

"This is happening in other homes, I am really worried it is a network of squatters." Another neighbour said: "The back garden is full of bin bags with Claire's clothes and things."

The house is occupied by a mother of six, Enescu Maria, 36, from Romania, who claims she is renting the property. She said, through her brother as she has no English, that her family moved in a month ago and she paid £2,000 to a man she claimed was related to the owner. He drove to the house to collect rent but she did not know his name.

She said: "I have nowhere else to go. If I leave my children will sleep on the streets. They go to school nearby. We have not done anything illegal."

Residents say a man in a car regularly collects an envelope from a woman at the Kimberley Road address.