THE Eckington gipsies claim they have left the area after a man exposed himself to their children and threatened another gipsy with a knife.

The group had set up temporary sites around Wychavon after Wychavon District Council evicted them from an unauthorised site near Eckington six weeks ago. They had parked up on land along Pershore Road in Hampton when the alleged incident happened on Monday at 10.20pm.

Gipsy Claire Wilson said: "The man was walking his dog and kept bending down to tie his shoe up. She claimed he then called the children towards him and they saw him expose himself.

She added that one of the men told him to go away, but he threatened to stab him in the neck with a knife.

"The police came and arrested him but we didn't know how long they were going to hold him for. It was very nerve-racking so the next day we moved off the land and moved to Gloucester.

"We had nowhere to go but we felt very threatened and it's made us think about where we live.

"We feel it's Wychavon's fault because they have put us in this situation. If anything happened to the children how would they feel?

"I don't know what would have happened if the children had actually gone over to speak to that man.

"We're trying to get back to the Wychavon area because we need to get the children back to school as soon as possible."

Ian Marshall, Wychavon's head of legal services, said: "It was not the council that forced the gipsies to go to Hampton or come to Eckington in the first place.

"My understanding is they had very little connection with this area prior to their arrival 12 months ago. It is nonsense to blame us for the situation they are now in."

Police spokesman Mike Vockins said a man was arrested at the scene after allegedly talking to site children and pulling a knife on another man.

He added: "The man was later formally cautioned concerning intentional harassment or causing alarm or distress, before being released."

The police have no record of indecent exposure allegations.