‘They were smashing stuff up, there was blood everywhere’: Armed police swoop on family caravan park in early hours of Xmas Day after brawl in the club house – as guests flee after being kept up until 4.30am by ‘screaming’
- There was a ‘mass fight’ reported at the clubhouse at the park in Dawlish Warren
- Objects were reportedly thrown, with children having to be pushed out the way
- Police are investigating an incident of grievous bodily harm and remain present
Armed police have been called to a family holiday park in Devon on Christmas day after ‘significant disorder’ ruined Christmas for dozens of families as a brawl continued into the early hours.
A serious incident at Welcome Family Holiday Park in Dawlish Warren has reportedly led to families being told to leave the site, after they reported being kept awake by ‘screaming’ and seeing ‘blood everywhere’ after a large-scale brawl.
The scene at the clubhouse today is said to have left parts of the building ‘smashed up’, with families having to leave the site.
There are reports police are investigating an incident of grievous bodily harm after a ‘large fight’ took place overnight, although the exact nature of the incident is unknown.
A serious incident at Welcome Family Holiday Park in Dawlish Warren has reportedly led to families being told to leave the site
Police confirmed there was ‘serious disorder’ at the park in the early hours of Christmas day
Eyewitnesses said children were shoved out of the way during the incident, in which large signs were reportedly thrown.
A spokesperson for the park told the Mirror: ‘There was an incident overnight. There is still a police presence at the site.’
One campgoer, Ann-Marie Clarke, said: ‘Ruined our Christmas. I feel for the team, they’ve worked so hard on the shows as always.’
Staff are said to be ‘very upset’ by the incident.
Another campgoer told the newspaper it ‘all kicked off’ after around 10:30pm on Christmas Eve.
They took four children to the holiday park, where there were ‘women screaming’ and ‘men shouting and arguing.’
‘That then escalated when police and police dogs turned up, I don’t know if they were fighting each other or against the police, we were surrounded by them and couldn’t go near our curtains.
‘Then we heard armed police shouting and banging outside followed by the police helicopter.’
Another visitor reportedly left the park late last night after driving five hours to get there, blaming ‘idiots’.
Guests were reportedly left ‘scared’ by behaviour at the park.
A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall police said: ‘There was significant disorder at the Welcome Family Holiday Park in Dawlish Warren during the early hours of December 25.
‘Police are investigating a GBS [Grievous Bodily Harm] related to the disturbance.
‘Police presence in the area will remain highly visible for the next 24 hours to respond to community concerns.’
As of 2pm, a police helicopter was reportedly still hovering above the scene.
Eyewitnesses said they were kept up until 4.30am in the morning by a large fight which left ‘blood everywhere’
Reports of the incident first appeared on social media. One Twitter user wrote: ‘Thank you for opening over Xmas and inflicting more misery on the locals with the riff raff you let book holidays there.
‘Was nice to be woken by police helicopters hovering over the park and police car sirens as the clientele were smashing up the clubhouse.’
Another person at the park said there was ‘fighting’ and ‘blood everywhere’ before they left the holiday site.
One mother, Becky Cooke, said her children’s Christmas had been ‘ruined’: ‘We left last night.
‘Kids all heartbroken and as are we as it ruined our Christmas eve frantically packing to leave and getting home.
‘We are glad we left when we did last night and I hope not to much damage has been done.’
Another social media user, Amy, wrote: ‘My friend, her husband and her children had to flee from this site at midnight with all their presents, dinner and personal belongings had to be left.
‘Absolutely awful seeing them earlier, kids think Santa forgot them. Heartbreaking.’
Others on social media reported being kept awake until 4.30am this morning due to ‘shouting and fighting’.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.
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