Kent police ‘were forced to attend seminar on not upsetting travellers’ as career crook Henry Vincent repeatedly scammed OAPs

COPS were forced to attend a seminar on working with the "traveller community” while career crook Henry Vincent and his gang of thieves ran riot on the streets, The Sun Online can reveal today.

Police have been accused of being more concerned with “political correctness” than upholding the law by furious neighbours of hero pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks.

But Kent Police insist that young recruits went on the "mandatory" training to ensure that "all the communities it serves" are provided with "first class" treatment.

Vincent, 37, was stabbed to death by 78-year-old Mr Osborn-Brooks in a botched burglary at the pensioner's house in Hither Green, South London, on April 4.

Just a few yards from the 1920s terrace the OAP shares with his 76-year-old wife Maureen, a turf-war over floral tributes has raged between Vincent’s relatives and angry locals.

But as of yesterday, the endless bouquets were gone and torn remembrance notes and ripped petals were left strewn on the pavement in Hither Green.

While friends of the Osborn-Brooks family make their feelings about Vincent and his traveller relatives clear – cops are bending over backwards to improve relations.

Earlier this week, Met Officers enraged vigilantes when they threatened to arrest anyone caught ripping down tributes to career-crook Vincent.

But now The Sun Online can reveal that Kent Police, who knew of Vincent and his criminal gang for years, were sent on diversity training to improve relations with travellers.

In 2017, junior cops were put on a six–day course at the force’s HQ in Northfleet, Kent, with the highlight of the final day being a speaker from the “Gypsy and Traveller community".

The guest was said to be both a "police officer and a liaison between this community and the police.”

Officers were then quizzed on their knowledge and how they could use those new skills in the field.

A spokesman for Kent Police told The Sun Online that cops were sent on the training to “create a greater knowledge and understanding” of how to treat people with “fairness, dignity and respect, and protect the public from harm.”

The Met has also taken measures to improve relations – with specially trained officers on the force to help “assist” the traveller community.

A spokeswoman said: “Some boroughs have officers who have specialist knowledge around Gypsy and Traveller community, but this is not their sole role.

“Their knowledge helps to assist the Gypsy and Traveller community when in contact with the police, whether as victims, witnesses or suspects.";

But while police were working on how to keep travellers on-side, Vincent and his crew, comprising of his dad and five cousins, were targeting the elderly across Kent and London.

The gang were no strangers to the law, with several members of the Vincent family found guilty of duping OAPs out of £448,180 and jailed for a total of almost 29 years in 2003.

Just 36 hours before he broke into the terraced home Mr Osborn-Brooks shared with 76-year-old wife Maureen, Vincent was caught on CCTV casing out a home in Farningham, Kent.

Reacting to the news, angry locals have accused Kent Police of being “too concerned about the perpetrator rather than the victim.”

One of the flower vigilantes, known as Mike, told Sun Online: “Police are more worried about political correctness than upholding the law.

“Because they’re gypsies and classed as a minority they are tiptoeing around them.

“Political correctness shouldn’t come into it.”

Mike has vowed to go back down to the shrine and rip off any flowers he sees.

Slamming the tributes as “disgusting” he said: “They should take these flowers down and put them up where they live. It’s inappropriate to keep them here.

“There’s a heightened state of anger because this burglary wasn’t just a one off, he’s [Vincent] targeted Richard because he’s elderly.

“He wouldn’t break into my house, he targets OAPs because they’re vulnerable and that’s what people are upset about.”

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.