500 ravers wreck havoc
By Stamford Today – Monday May 7 2002
Copyright: Stamford Today
UP TO 500 illegal ravers wreaked havoc after they broke down barricades and partied on private land.
The ravers wrecked a car, smashed windows and scrawled graffiti on buildings at a disused bomb depot south of Stamford at the weekend.
And deafening music from the all-night rave kept residents awake three miles away in King s Cliffe.
Police were called to the disturbance by farmer Bernard Howard, who rents the land, but only officers from the neighbouring Cambridgeshire force arrived to deal with matter.
Mr Howard is now writing to the chief constable of Northamptonshire Police demanding action to stop another rave happening.
Mr Howard, a parish councillor and Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, said: “We ve had about eight or 10 of these raves in the past year, but this is the first time they have put a step wrong.
“What they have done this time is a criminal act.
“They have smashed windows, sprayed graffiti on the buildings, flattened the 6ft mound of dirt we put in place to stop them getting on the site and broken padlocks on the gate.
“The only good thing they did was bag up the bottles and beer cans.
“Vehicles were going round the village trying to find the party, and villagers were disturbed all through the night.
“One of our main concerns is young people in the village will start to get involved.
“I have lived here all my life and these people are coming in from outside and destroying our village.
“We need to put an end to this now before it gets out of control.”
The party started at about 7pm on Saturday with the last few ravers leaving at noon on Sunday. It is estimated 500 people from across the country attended the event just off the A47.
A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said officers from the neighbouring county had dealt with the matter because they had been following party revellers to the site.
He added: “We did not have the power to go in and break it up as we had received no official complaint from a member of the public about a disturbance.
“But as a result of this incident we will be talking to the local authority and land owner about additional security on the site.”
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