The son of a self-styled ‘gypsy king’ accused of bullying neighbours including a former British Airways pilot after setting up home outside a leafy village has lost a planning battle to stay.Frank Tomney and his family were seeking retrospective planning permission to retain their ‘static caravans’ on land next to a woodland nature reserve – but must now move on.The travellers pitched up around six years ago and, in 2020, received a three-year temporary planning permission – but remained after it expired in 2023.Since then, neighbours including David McCorquordale, a former British Airways and Army Air Corps Captain and distant relative of Princess Diana and Dame Barbara Cartland have accused the family of making their lives ‘hell’.Mr McCorquodale, 65, said the site, on the edge of Charlwood, Surrey, had caused him and his family “intolerable stress”.His wife, Jessica, 35, told a meeting of Mole Valley Council’s planning committee that they had ‘endured a nightmare that no one should have to face in their own home’, alleging the site’s occupants had been involved in unlawful activity.Planning officials had recommended councillors approve the application. They reasoned that while the site was built on greenbelt land, the harm was outweighed by the “very special circumstances” of the family.But Mrs McCorquodale, who lives in a £2m home next to the gypsy site with her husband and their son, 7, urged councillors to reject permanent planning permission. Frank Tomney poses with Bentley which appears to display personalised numberplate Tomney jr and his family have been living at the site next to the McCorquordales since 2020She told them: ‘This application shouldn’t just be about planning – but whether you reward blatant disregard for the law at the expense of community safety and well-being.‘They’ve stolen water from our field supply for years, running up thousands in bills we’re still fighting. When we disconnected it, they used an excavator to smash the water main, forcing an emergency repair.’Mrs McCorquordale told the meeting how the couple’s son witnessed her husband being assaulted when he went to challenge travellers using an angle grinder to cut down a fence post on their drive, which is also used by the gypsies under an access agreement.She recalled: ‘On September 1, CCTV captured seven men – one in a balaclava with an angle grinder – cutting our (fence) post in broad daylight. My son screamed like I’ve never heard before as he watched his father being assaulted on live CCTV at home.’She said her family had traced an illegal electricity cable from the Traveller site to Gatwick’s Northern aviation lighting mast, connected to UK Power Networks’ mains supply, adding: ‘This has endangered us all and poses aviation safety risks.’‘This all follows years of intimidation: threats, trespassing, and disruption that’s shattered our peace.‘The toll on my family is devastating. My seven-year-old son has known nothing but his mother’s constant stress, sleepless nights, anxiety, fearing for our safety.‘Our home is no longer a sanctuary.’ David McCorquordale, former British Airways pilot, claims his life has been made 'hell'Neither Tomney – who installed a hot tub at the site and built a porticoed entrance to one of the static caravans - nor his family appeared at the meeting.Simon McKay, director of planning consultancy SJM Planning, spoke on their behalf and said the traveller family had worked with councillors to ensure the plan addressed concerns about impact on the neighbouring Glover’s Wood.But the application was rejected by councillors. Councillor Simon Budd, who proposed the motion to deny the application, said: ‘It’s farmland and it should go back to being farmland, please.’He added that for the traveller family, it was ‘perhaps time to travel’.After the meeting on Wednesday, Mr McCorquodale – third cousin of the late Princess Diana’s brother-in-law, said: ‘I am delighted that the council has seen fit to refuse this application which has been a relentless period of time of intolerable stress.‘Overall, whilst this is a long haul, I am absolutely delighted that on this occasion the correct answer was found.’He added that he would ‘relish’ any appeal the applicant may seek, as it would give him the opportunity to hand over evidence that he said he was denied the chance to present at the planning committee, adding: ‘I look forward to the opportunity even though it’s going to be painful to have to go through.’ Frank Tomney's father was buried in a supposed 'solid gold' coffin at a South London cemetery Frank Tomney sr, self-styled 'Gypsy King', was jailed for ripping off pensioners Tomney, whose ‘gypsy king’ father Frank Tomney sr, also known as Frank Thompson, 69, died in July and was buried in south London in a supposed ‘solid gold coffin’, was unavailable for comment.The traveller patriarch’s extravagant send-off included his supposed ‘solid gold’ coffin being taken on a six day ‘farewell tour’ by Rolls Royce before being laid to rest at a London cemetery.In 2011 Tomney SR and others were jailed for one of Britain’s biggest cowboy building scams, making £1.3m by tricking dozens of pensioners.Tomney SR was imprisoned for five-and-a-half years.