Mobile home site owner ordered to pay £300k+ after council prosecution

A company that owns a mobile home site on the Isle of Wight has been ordered to pay more than £300,000 after pleading guilty to a series of charges, following a prosecution brought by the local authority.

Leisure Parks Real Estate, owner of the Medina Park in Whippingham, had pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including blocking mobile home sales and intimidating residents.

Two directors, Maurice Sines and James Crickmore, also pleaded guilty to individual offences against residents in May 2012.

At a hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court earlier this month, the company was ordered to pay £3,000 per offence – a total of £33,000. The court also imposed a confiscation order of £275,000.

Eight victims will be awarded £5,000 each in compensation.

Laura Gaudion, a senior solicitor at the Isle of Wight Council, said: "We had a number of complaints about the conduct of the company and we investigated, finding out they were putting pressure on homeowners to sell their homes back to them.

"They also contacted potential buyers of the mobile homes and said they were pieces of junk, that the bases were cracked and they weren't worth the money being paid."