The drug dealer kingpin behind May Day traveller invasion: Firm linked to county lines boss buys plot of land in idyllic village - and moves caravans in as council staff enjoy bank holiday

By RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT Published: 00:45, 5 May 2026 | Updated: 00:45, 5 May 2026 A company that owns a field which travellers turned into an illegal caravan site over the May bank holiday weekend is linked to a county lines drug dealer, the Daily Mail can reveal. An army of workers descended on a four-acre wildlife haven in Willows Green, near Felsted, Essex, within hours of the local district council closing its doors on Friday.  The land grab is part of a trend that sees travellers build unauthorised developments over bank holiday weekends when council offices are closed. They then apply for retrospective planning permission in a bid to make the site permanent. A second site sprung up on Saturday at Three Acres near Canterbury, with lorries seen bringing in static homes and a digger spreading building materials.  The landowner has now been issued with a stop notice, any breach of which constitutes a criminal offence. However, no such action has been taken against the site near Felsted, which is registered as being owned by UK Real Estate and Land 2 Limited.  The firm paid £125,000 cash to the previous owner for the land on April 29 2025, with an overage deed arrangement to pay him more if its value goes on to increase.  Companies House records list one of its directors as Chad Brady, a 31-year-old Yorkshireman.  Brady was named at Hull Crown Court last year as the manager of a lucrative cocaine dealing operation in the seaside town of Bridlington. The shameless criminal recruited his own sister as a £150-a-day runner but was busted after sending bulk advertising messages to locals. Chad Brady outside Hull Crown Court last year, where he pleaded guilty to drug dealing  An army of workers descended on a four-acre wildlife haven in the historic hamlet of Willows Green, near Felsted, Essex, within hours of the local district council closing its doors BEFORE: Villagers expressed outrage after Uttlesford District Council failed to secure a preemptive emergency legal injunction He admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, 200 hours' unpaid work and 10 days' rehabilitation. Brady resigned as a director of UK Real Estate and Land 2 Limited last January as the court case was underway. He is the director of 17 other dissolved companies and three active ones, one of which describes itself as a yoga school. Also listed are David Malcolm Kaye, a director of more than 500 companies, most of which have been dissolved, and 31-year-old Lauren Anne Connell, who has directed 33 dissolved firms and four active ones. About 30 vehicles, including cars, vans and several diggers, were brought onto the field under the cover of darkness in the constituency of Conservative MP James Cleverly. Vegetation was ripped up to prepare the ground for a hardcore and tarmac base and aerial photos taken yesterday showed fences already installed as diggers continued to lay rubble. Mr Cleverly was seen walking in a field near the site yesterday and posted a video on Facebook to demand that action be taken. 'This is why we have got to take action to make sure that building work like this, taking place outside office hours, clearly seeking to game the system, that we are able to take decisive and quick action,' said the ex-home secretary. 'Because the local community here knows that this is going to be disruptive to them, and anyone who has tried to get a builder to start work after hours on a Friday on a bank holiday weekend will know that there's something not right about this.' An outraged James Cleverly has accused travellers of 'gaming the system'. He has previously suggested there is 'two-tier justice' when it came to applying rules and laws to travellers Your browser does not support iframes. It came just hours after the Tory MP suggested there was 'two-tier justice' when it came to applying rules and laws to travellers. The Daily Mail had pinpointed the spot as at risk of becoming an illegal camp after a local council source warned that travellers intended to import thousands of tonnes of hardcore to set up a site over the bank holiday weekend. In an earlier video, Mr Cleverly said 'we often see situations' where travellers move to land they own and 'without planning applications, they just build, build, build'. He added: 'No one else would be allowed to do so. And when the authorities try to take action, whether it be the council or the police, they're accused of racism to try and deter them from doing the right thing. 'A system designed to protect people is being weaponised to allow them to do the wrong thing.' The field being unlawfully developed was sold by a farmer to a real estate company for £125,000 a year ago. Since then, it is believed to have been marketed as about ten smaller plots, with fears some had been purchased by members of the travelling community. Using floodlights and generators, several men worked through the night at the weekend to build over the pristine countryside. Residents, whose homes in the picturesque hamlet will overlook one side of the site, saw work begin and awoke to see it continuing. One man in his 60s said: 'The field was swamped with vehicles, noise and lights all through the night. No doubt by the time the council reopens on Tuesday there will be a fully-fledged caravan park opposite our homes.' There had been criticism that Uttlesford District Council took no pre-emptive measures, such as using an Article Four Directive to ban any usually permitted development. Others said it could have tried to obtain an emergency injunction so that if work started, it would be a criminal offence. The owner of the land at Three Acres near Canterbury had previously applied for planning permission to lay hardstanding for three caravans.  Vegetation was ripped up to prepare the ground for a hardcore and tarmac base. On Sunday, aerial photos showed fences already installed as diggers continued to lay rubble About 30 vehicles, including cars, vans and several diggers, were brought onto the field on Friday under the cover of darkness  This was refused on April 2, but work began anyway over the May bank holiday weekend.  A spokesman for Canterbury City Council said: 'We always take reports of unauthorised activity seriously and act as quickly as we can. 'In this case, we issued a stop notice on Friday and will carry out further checks to ensure they have been complied with later this week.' Three councils across the south east were left taking legal action following the Easter bank holiday weekend after different traveller groups set up new unauthorised sites in Surrey, Kent and Hertfordshire. Uttlesford District Council has been contacted for comment.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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