- Police and Border Agency officials found 68 immigrants living in squalor
- Those who agreed to leave at once were given free flights to Romania
- Former football club has been squatted illegally on and off since 2009
- It will now be sold by Barnet council to property developer Montclare
Dozens of Romanian squatters were finally turfed out of a derelict former football club this morning which they had turned into a squalid 'shanty town'.
Police officers and UK Border Agency officials woke 68 people, who had been living on the former Hendon Football Club site in north west London, at 5am and offered them free flights home to Romania if they went immediately.
The squatters, most of them men, had been living at the derelict club for several months in shelters constructed out of planks of wood, scrap metal and plastic sheeting.
Dozens of Romanian immigrants were evicted from their camp on the former site of Hendon Football Club at 5am today
The Romanians had been living in shacks made out of discarded planks of wood and scrap metal
Workers from homelessness charity Thames Reach accompanied police on the raid this morning after the site was judged to be unfit for human habitation and a problem for the local community, and offered to help the Romanians find alternative accommodation.
A spokeswoman for Barnet Council said around 20 people were believed to have agreed to fly home, while the rest refused the offer, many of them saying they had friends they could go and stay with.
The old football club in Claremont Road, Cricklewood, has been occupied by the Romanians, most of them men, for several months in what is the third occupation of the site since the football club moved out in 2009.
After the immigrants were evicted, the ground was left strewn with rubbish, old flip-flops, dirty sleeping bags and clothes.
Residents living near the site described it as a 'vile, filthy eyesore', and said they saw them with trolleys full of rubbish.
But they said they believed the Romanians worked as they saw vans coming to pick them up, and said that they weren't noisy, and didn't cause any trouble.
A local resident who gave her name as Muriel, 56, said: 'I can see their property out of my bedroom window and it's filthy with rubbish everywhere.
'It's shocking but they don't have wheelie bins or anything so the only way to dispose of their rubbish is in a pile.
'People were scared at first when they moved in and thought bad stuff would happen as a result but they don't interfere with anyone.'
Barnet Council said 20 of the 68 Romanians took up the offer of free flights home
The immigrants were said to have been living at the litter-strewn site for several months before today's raid
The Roma travellers were given papers ordering them to leave the site, which had 'danger' notices on display
The freehold of the former football club site is owned by Barnet Council, which has been involved in a legal wrangle in its attempt to sell it to the current leaseholder, a property developer.
The sale of the freehold to the leaseholder, Montclare Developments Ltd, was finally cleared on Monday, and the site will now be cleared for development.
A Home Office spokesman told MailOnline: 'Immigration Enforcement officers today assisted with a Metropolitan Police operation targeting a number of rough sleepers living at a site in Hendon, north London.
'Immigration papers were served on a number of individuals of Eastern European origin, some of whom have indicated they are willing to return to their home country voluntarily. We will now be dealing with those accordingly.
'We are involved in scores of operations like this every day, tackling illegal immigration, sham marriages and illegal working.
'Where foreign nationals with no permission to be in the UK refuse to return home voluntarily we will take action to remove them. This includes those from within the European Economic Area who have been in the country for longer than three months and are not working, studying or self-sufficient, as required by EU law.'
Most of the illegal immigrants found at the site this morning were men, who were living in filthy conditions, officials said
The site, which is just yards from people's homes, will now be cleared for development after a legal battle
Squalid conditions: The site was illegally occupied while a legal battle went on over its sale to a developer
Police officers picked through mountains of rubbish as they ensured every person had left the site today
The derelict site is strewn with rubbish after being occupied on and off three times since 2009
By midday today, around 20 of the immigrants had agreed to take a free flight home to Romania
Barnet councillor Dean Cohen said: 'Today’s raid is the culmination of several weeks of close cooperation between the leaseholder, Barnet Council, the Metropolitan Police, homeless charity Thames Reach and the Romanian embassy.
'This is suburban London and several residents have raised the issue of the squatters with me. This is knocked together accommodation with no sanitation and the inherent health risks that brings.
'I am very pleased the police, the council and others have worked together to clear the area and reconnect the squatters with their home country.
'I’d like to say a particular thank you to the Romanian embassy who have walked a very careful line between the responsibilities they have to their citizens and the understanding that this kind of squalor has no place in London.'
Early start: Police officers and Border Agency officials were at the derelict football club site at 5am today
The site is soon to be bought by its long-term leaseholder, property development firm Montclare
As it was: Hendon Football Club vacated the site on Claremont Road in Cricklewood in 2009
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