POLICE have this morning ended what they described as an “illegal occupation” of the disputed Bodenham Manor site.

Officers have monitored the manor site - the subject of a long running dispute - since a group of people moved onto the site over Saturday afternoon.

This morning, a man in his 50s was arrested for burglary after a caravan was allegedly broken into on the site over the weekend.

A man his 40s was arrested on suspicion of the offence of squatting in a residential building.

Another seven people were served with summons notices to appear at Hereford Magistrates’ Court to be dealt with for the same offence.

Three people who were in the grounds of the manor, but not in the manor itself, were served notices to leave the site.

Superintendent Sue Thomas, policing commander for Herefordshire, described this morning’s operation as “generally peaceful” with officers having liaised between the occupiers and the owner of the manor over the past week.

The owner bought the property this year and has been renovating the building while living on site in a caravan.

As previously reported by the Hereford Times, High Court enforcement officers - backed by police -  were called to Bodenham Manor in April to remove the then owner in a dispute with Barclays Bank over the recovery of six-figure loans.

The Hereford Times has also reported on how a community practising shamanic and pagan beliefs were ordered off the site.

The following month the repossessed site was put up for auction in London with a £300,000 guide price.