Secret log cabin couple face eviction

A couple who hid their illegal home behind hay bales for four years have been refused leave to appeal a decision to evict them.

Peter and Jean Bridle lived in a log cabin which they extended and made into a comfortable home in the hope of exploiting a planning loophole to win permission to stay.

But after eight years of legal wrangling the retired dustman, 67, and floral artist, 63, have been told to move out of the building at Margaretting, near Ingatestone, Essex.

A High Court judge refused the couple leave to appeal a previous High Court decision permitting Chelmsford council to evict them.

Mrs Bridle said: "We don't have any money to move anywhere else. We are OAPs with high blood pressure."

They will now appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.