Son of 'gypsy king' accused of attack amid land dispute as Surrey planning decision looms

Mole Valley District Council is set to decide on a retrospective planning application for a travellers' site at Charlwood, Surrey, after five years of contention surrounding the site beside Glover’s Wood, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Frank Tomney Jr., 35, and his family moved static caravans and horses onto a paddock next to ancient woodland five years ago and obtained a three-year temporary planning permission, which has now expired.

Tomney Jr. is accused of taking part in an attack on neighbour David McCorquodale, a retired Army Air Corps and British Airways pilot who is also a distant relative of Princess Diana and late author Dame Barbara Cartland. The incident, described by authorities as taking place last month, reportedly involved a vehicle being driven at the former pilot and him being threatened with an angle grinder.

McCorquodale, who lives next door at the edge of Charlwood in a property described as valued at about £2 million with an adjacent smallholding, has faced ongoing disputes with the travellers' site. Neighbours and parish officials say tensions have intensified as the site’s planning status becomes more contentious, with some alleging that electricity has been siphoned from the local supply.

The traveller patriarch, Frank Tomney Sr., who died in July, was a self-styled “gypsy king.” He and others were known for a controversial private funeral that included a reported ‘solid gold’ coffin and a six-day farewell tour by Rolls-Royce before Tomney Sr. was laid to rest at a London cemetery. Tomney Sr. and associates were jailed in 2011 for about £1.3 million in losses tied to one of Britain’s largest cowboy-building scams, with Tomney Sr. serving five-and-a-half years.

A family friend of Mr. McCorquodale, himself a cousin of Princess Diana’s brother-in-law Neil McCorquodale and part of a military family with deep ties to duty and national pride, said Tomney Jr. has made life “as unpleasant as possible for David and his wife.” The friend added: “It is a complete scandal that planning permission is likely to be granted. They have made their lives hell. It is sickening.”

Records show that officers have received thousands of communications about the travellers’ site, with one local source estimating some 1,300 letters of complaint sent to Mole Valley District Council over the years. Police have been called three or four times, and Mr. McCorquodale has spent more than £30,000 on CCTV to monitor activity around the boundary with the site.

Tomney Jr., whose social media snapshots show him with a Bentley bearing a personalised number plate and enjoying leisure moments at venues such as The Dorchester and a London branch of The Ivy, has not been seen since the September incident and did not respond to requests for comment. He is understood to have been operating a construction business from the Charlwood site and to have used oversized vehicles on the shared access road, a point that Mr. McCorquodale has pursued in civil proceedings.

Glover’s Wood, adjacent to the Traveller site, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest that is home to rare bat species, complicating planning considerations for the council and environmental groups.

Mole Valley District Council said little on the matter beyond noting that it would decide the retrospective application on a date announced for this week. Charlwood Parish Council, which has opposed the planning permit, contends that anti-social behavior, littering, trespass, and other issues have worsened since the site’s operations began, though some residents note there are alternative Traveller sites elsewhere in the district. The council also argued that the area sits within Green Belt land, adjacent to an SSSI, raising questions about adherence to planning rules.

In response to the evolving dispute, the UK Power Networks said engineers disconnected an illegal electricity cable in the area, noting the cut did not pose a risk to private power networks.

Authorities emphasized that the case is under review and that no final determination has been announced. Mole Valley District Council declined to comment further, and residents await Wednesday’s decision to determine whether the site’s retrospective permission will become permanent or whether additional conditions will apply to address environmental and community concerns.