79-year-old's Kent creekside caravan bulldozed; court to rule on injunction on 15 October

Left · 2Bob Thwaites, 79, says he returned from a shopping trip on 6 May to find the caravan he had lived in for 35 years on the Swanscombe Peninsula in north Kent had been demolished. 1 2 Left · 2The demolition was carried out by Land Logical, which had acquired Swanscombe Development LLP, the company that owned the land. His possessions, including the ashes of his late son, were destroyed. 2 1 Left · 2Mr Thwaites has asked Dartford County Court for an interim injunction that would let him return to the site with a replacement caravan while the wider legal dispute is decided. The Metro dates the hearing to 30 September. 2 1

Left · 2His solicitor, Keystone Law's Ed John, said the hearing was not about who owns the land. He said that if the developers thought Mr Thwaites had no right to live there, they should have applied for a possession order instead of removing him themselves, and that he had never seen anything like it in 30 years of property law. 1 2 Left · 1Mr John said Mr Thwaites moved onto the land in 1991 when it had no registered owner, and argues that after more than 12 years he acquired rights through adverse possession. Mr John said those rights became an overriding interest when the land was registered, so they could take precedence over the paper title held by Swanscombe Development LLP. 1 Left · 1David Forsdick, for Mr Thwaites, told Judge Catherine Brown the destruction was unlawful and a trespass. He pointed out that Land Logical's chief executive, Nicholas Katz, had called Mr Thwaites a squatter, and argued that this implied a court order was needed to remove him. He also offered aerial images from 1999 to 2025 showing the caravan in the same position, and said Mr Thwaites had been given a key to the peninsula gate, which he called a recognition of his residence. The court heard the demolition left Mr Thwaites traumatised, dislocated and very stressed. 1

Left · 2Howard Smith, for Swanscombe Development, argued that if Mr Thwaites lived there, there was no planning permission, no council tax was paid and everything was under the radar. He accepted the evidence suggested Mr Thwaites stayed there but cast doubt on how long and how often. He also said Mr Thwaites had given inconsistent dates and had no contract allowing him to stay, and that the revocation of Broadness Cruising Club's access terminated his right to use the land. 1 2 Left · 1Mr Forsdick said the claim that Mr Thwaites lived in three other places was untrue, and that he only visited his partner and daughter. Mr Smith told the court that granting the injunction might mean more expensive insurance for Swanscombe LLP and restricted access to keep the site secure, and he urged the judge to dismiss the application. 1 Left · 2Judge Brown adjourned the application until 11am on Thursday 15 October, when she is expected to give her decision. 2 1

Left · 1The demolition followed a land dispute between neighbouring Broadness Cruising Club and Land Logical. At the time, Mr Katz said Mr Thwaites had no occupational right to live on the land and accused him of squatting. Mr Thwaites has said the destruction left him feeling absolutely dead inside. 1 Left · 2Jim Dickson, Labour MP for Dartford, said he would support Mr Thwaites and his family in their fight to get justice, and that proper processes should have been followed. 1 2