Security hut removed

Police say the security company patrolling Leach Fields has been changed, a week after being brought in to protect the site.

Nationwide Security Ltd set up a site hut on 25 March, following damage to a digger which had been parked in the fields and damage to fences erected to keep walkers off the site.

On Monday, 30 March, a security guard received 30% burns after a fire inside the hut; he is now recovering in hospital.

Police say that at first the fire was thought to have been malicious, but a text message was found on the security guard's mobile which shows he was asking how to change a gas cylinder.

According to police it was shortly after this text was sent that the fire began.

Officers have confirmed that there are no suspicious circumstances and that they are treating the incident as an accident.

Meanwhile officers are still investigating the damage to the digger the previous week and the tearing down of boundary fences. They warn that action will be taken against anyone found to have caused criminal damage on the site.

Boundaries secured

Ray Brook boundary

Contractors have now piled earth against all boundaries around Leach Fields, including the south boundary along Ray Brook.

The earth is also piled to the west of the West Path in Gobions, which is now accessible with care following the removal of two footbridges, although it hasn't been officially reopened yet by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (HMWT).

Leach Fields had been leased to the Gobions Woodland Trust (GWT), but the owners, Leach Homes, decided not to renew that lease at the end of last year.

You can discuss the Leach Fields in this site's forum.

3 April 2009