News Item

From Special Irish Fest Rags-to-Riches Correspondent Ronan Collins:

Irish Tramp Given £2m Hampstead Heath Plot After Squatting On Land For 20 Years
(The Daily Mail)

Home for Harry Hallowes is a rickety shack surrounded by junk. Yet the 70-year-old Irish tramp is the unlikeliest of property millionaires.

He has become the proud owner of a prime plot of land on the edge of Hampstead Heath in North London - by claiming squatter's rights. Because he has lived there longer than the 12 years required by law, he has been declared the legal owner by the Land Registry.

The plot near Highgate, which consists of a 90ft-square woodland area around the 12ft x 8ft shack, has been Mr Hallowes's home since 1986. If it were sold with permission for housing, estate agents say it would fetch more than £2million. But Mr Hallowes says he has no intention of cashing in. Yesterday, after a visit to the shops with his plastic bag hanging from an umbrella slung across his shoulder, he asked: "Do I look like the type that would sell up and go jetting all over the world?

"I'm not into package holidays and all that other modern stuff where they bundle everyone up like a package and send them all over the place. It all sounds quite nauseating. I'm quite happy here with all my friends and all the nature.

"I'm pretty lazy if I'm honest. I do a bit of weightlifting and I chop wood for the fire. I don't much care what happens to the land after I'm gone as long as they keep the wildlife - I'm all for wildlife.

"If I write a will I will leave the land to the Royal Family. They are the last bastion of refinement and sophistication so they'd know what to do with it.

"But there are a lot of greedy people behind the scenes who would love to get their hands on this."

Over the years he has become a well-known figure in the community, surviving on food handouts and doing odd jobs, and his friends in the area include Monty Python star and film director Terry Gilliam.

A spokesman for Gilliam said: "We are delighted by this. Harry is an amazing man, very intelligent, and Terry and his wife have done a lot to help him out over the years."