A defiant traveller – who boasts of his association with Tyson Fury – has mocked a police order banning him from Appleby Horse Fair, which he has attended intent on arranging a fight with a rival.
Connor Hamer was issued a letter by Cumbria Police telling him not to attend as the result of intelligence they had received suggesting he may be involved in ‘issues of disorder.’
Hamer, recently pictured with the former heavyweight world champion after apparently selling him an ornate carriage, laughed at the police notice in a video he posted as he entered Appleby on Thursday.
He posted: ‘I’ve never give a f*** about the police all my life and I’m not guna change now.’
He then challenges another man to a fight, saying: ‘Do you want to fight, yes or no? I will fight you today or if you want to get in the ring let’s go you big skinny s*** house.’
In Hamer’s video, shot from his vehicle, the Appleby road sign looms into view before the camera pans onto him at the wheel.
A laughing Hamer yells: ‘Look who’s in Appleby…f** the police I can’t stand ’em, they locked up all the mandem.’
He also posted a copy of a letter he received on May 28th from the officers in charge of policing the fair, Superintendent Dan St Quintin and Superintendent Lee Skelton.
The letters says: ‘Cumbria Constabulary is in possession of information regarding issues of disorder you may be involved in at Appleby Fair.
‘Whist understanding this will be of concern to you, Cumbria Constabulary would like to appeal to you not to attend Appleby Fair 2025.
‘If you choose to attend the fair, you will risk immediate dispersal under Section 35 of the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
‘Should you fail to disperse form the fair immediately, you will be arrested and placed before the first available court.’
Late on Thursday evening Hamer posted a picture of himself with Tyson Fury in front of a traditional gypsy caravan.
Hamer posted:’There was only 1 man with big enough balls and wallet to own my wagon the gypsy king wish you all the luck with it git up.’
Hamer described the caravan in earlier posts as a ‘Rolls Royce’ of a wagon, saying it is an original Bill Wright’s wagon dating from 1906.
He said: ‘Rolls-Royce of a wagon, original bill wrights you won’t get no better only selling as I’ve just bought another yard.’
In another picture on his social media he is pictured around a camp fire with Fury and his father, Big John Fury.
However, gypsy leader Billy Welch has hit back at critics of Appleby Horse Fair, insiting crime goes down during the annual event.
Mr Welch, who is known as the Shear Rom or Head Gypsy, claim’s the fair’s reputation for bringing chaos to the villages of Cumbria’s Eden Valley, is a distortion.
He spoke to on the second day of this year’s event to defend its reputation.
He said: ‘I don’t think people appreciate what Appleby means to us, it is a scared place and the week of the fair is the most important in the gypsy calendar.
‘It dismays me to see the way the fair is portrayed when the truth of the matter is that crime in the area actually goes down during the fair’s duration.
‘That might be partly down to the heavy police presence but it’s also because the gypsies do not bring crime with them, we acitively discourage it and try to prevent it from happening.
‘There is a group of people in the Appleby area who do everything they can to paint us as badly as they can, maybe they’re just bored with their lives.
‘But crime is practically zero during the horse fair and yet pubs and businesses close down when we arrive and you wonder why.
‘The pubs that stay open are full, they do great business and people have a drink and they sing, that’s as bad as it gets, it’s just singing.
‘Cumbria police tell me that their officers like to police the fair because it’s a good atmosphere and there is so little trouble.
‘They’d rather police thousands of people at Appleby than a couple fo hundred in the centre of Carlisle on a Saturday night because they’ll have less trouble.
‘There isn’t another event anywhere that brings in this volume of people with so little trouble. The reputation that’s been put on the fair in recent years is unfair.’
He spoke of Appleby’s ‘spiritual’ pull for travellers from across the world.
Mr Welch said: ‘Appleby week is more important to the gypsy and traveller people than Christmas. It’s a spiritual place to us and it makes us feel closer to God.
‘When we come here from wherever we live in the world people will tell us to go back to where we belong, our people get used to hearing that.
‘But this is the place in the world where we all fell we belong and we are here for one week which is the most special of the year, everything leads up to it.
‘We have Christian gathering here every night in a big tent on Fair Hill, we are a Christian people with a very strong faith and I think that is something else that people forget because they choose to.
‘There is a baptism here tomorrow at this place, which is where one of my own children was baptised.
‘I’d like people to be more open minded about Appleby Fair and allow us to enjoy our time at a place that is sacred to the gypsy people where we have met for centuries.’
Tyson Fury has accepted the delivery of a new traditional gypsy caravan as he shared footage of himself ‘horsing around’ with his family.
The boxing champ posted a clip of the red, green and gold carriage on his Instagram story last night – sparking further excitement he might be on his way to Appleby Horse Fair.
It comes after Fury, 36, yesterday posted a video of himself riding a horse and trap.
While it was thought he may be travelling to Appleby, Fury later confirmed he had just been taking a ride around Knutsford, Cheshire, for scenes filmed for his Netflix show.
Meanwhile in another social media clip, Fury shared footage of him pulling his son along in a beautifully decorated horse trailer.
His son can be heard yelling: ‘Giddy up horsey!’
While Fury growls back: ‘You don’t need a horse, you’ve got me.’
Up to 10,000 travellers and 30,000 visitors have been arriving in Appleby-in-Westmorland this week for the annual horse fair.
The picturesque town has a population of 3,000 for 51 weeks of the year – but this all changes in the first week of June as a result of the event which dates from 1775.