EVESHAM magistrates are to be directed by a High Court Judge to convict gypsies for failing to remove their caravans from a site at Cleeve Prior.

Wychavon District Council took Samantha Smith, Alfred Smith, Peter Mark and Julie Ann Smith to court for not moving their homes, after two independent planning inspectors ruled that the sites at Twin Oaks were not suitable for stationing residential caravans.

However, when the gipsies appeared in court in Evesham on June 9 1999 for failing to comply with Breach of Condition Notices, town magistrates acquitted them.

In a High Court Appeal by Wychavon, Mr Justice Sullivan explained that the gipsies' desire to stay on their land at Twin Oaks or the lack of alternative sites was not Evesham magistrates' concern.

He said these were matters for the government's independent planning inspectors when dealing with planning appeals.

The inspectors ruled that caravans in the open countryside just outside Cleeve Prior caused a visual intrusion.

There were also problems with assimilation of the wider gipsy community at Cleeve Prior with nearby villagers.

Now Mr Justice Sullivan, speaking on June 22 in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, said he was sending the matter back to Evesham magistrates with a direction that they must convict the gipsies.

Chairman of the planning committee, councillor Jean Dowty said: "I am very pleased that the High Court has decided in the council's favour. I now hope that the gipsies will remove their caravans from the sites and restore the land to its original condition before they arrived."