ELEVEN gipsy families who lived together in a Worcestershire village for nearly a year have been forced to go their separate ways.

The travellers left the land they owned at Eckington, near Pershore, on Thursday after a High Court judgement ruled they could not stay because they had

failed to be given planning permission.

Now, they have dispersed across the country and say they are still being forced to break the law.

Louie Goddard's family was among those who moved on to the land in Eckington during the May Bank Holiday last year and put up boundary fences and installed water and electricity without planning permission.

The 28-year-old wanted to stay until the results of a planning appeal in September but she was in Southampton when the Worcester News spoke to her yesterday.

"We have had to all split up as the more caravans there are in a group the quicker you get moved on from places," the mother of three said.

"Me and my family have been in Southampton for a couple of nights but we won't be staying as there is nowhere we can go legally.

"Instead we'll just have to move from lay-by to lay-by around the country until September, when we hope to hear positive results from our planning appeal."

She added that she was not building up her hopes.

"We own that land but we don't think we will win.

"If this is the case I don't know where we will go or when we will see any of the other families again."