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Peer gives bikies house

NZPA-AAP London Three Hell’s Angels with two girl-friends have moved into a valuable farmhouse on the estate of the Marquess of Tavistock, who has signed a rent-free tenancy agreement, the “Daily Telegraph” reports. The agreement had resulted from a take-over of an estate gatehouse by about 20 bikies last week, it said. Angry villagers near the huge Woburn estate complained that even estate workers had had to wait for housing. The take-over had begun a month ago when a band of Hell’s Angels squatted in another estate house but were evicted, the newspaper said. Then followed a cat-and-mouse game of breaking, entering, and squatting before a confrontation between the Tavistocks and the bikies. The “Telegraph” said that the Marquess and Marchioness drove to the gatehouse to negotiate a deal giving the bikies free use of Jobs Farm, a house valued about £190,000 ($214,000) in an isolated corner of the estate. In return the bikies must not cause trouble in the

district, must not have more than six people living there, and must not squat anywhere else on the estate.

Lord and Lady Tavistock were not available for comment but the estate manager, Michael Thompson, was quoted as saying, “It is a brave experiment. We would like to think we have taken an enlightened approach. We have behaved reasonably. We hope they will behave similarly and leave when we are ready.” One of the bikies, David Ballard, aged 28, was quoted as saying, “I suppose you could say we forced them into it, but we didn’t come here to cause any trouble. We just wanted to live in the country. It would have meant a lot more trouble for them if they hadn’t.” But a local, who did not wish to be identified, was quoted by the “Telegraph” as saying, “It’s disgusting. There are people in this village who have been waiting for two or three years for a house. Even people who work on the Tavistock estate have been waiting for months. “Yet these people can just walk into a place. Lord Tavistock’s been held to ransom and has just given

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19840517.2.84.7

Bibliographic details

Press, 17 May 1984, Page 10

Word Count
355

Peer gives bikies house Press, 17 May 1984, Page 10

Peer gives bikies house Press, 17 May 1984, Page 10