The handwritten sign on the pebble-dashed semi in St Mary Cray, on the outskirts of Orpington, Kent, said: ‘Beware of the Dog.’ The notice should perhaps also have warned visitors to ‘Beware of the Occupants’.

'F*** off,’ snapped the young woman who stormed out of the house when we called on Wednesday. A man in overalls on the driveway also told us to leave in equally uncivilised terms.

Their reaction was not altogether unexpected. This address happens to be inhabited by members of the notorious family of Henry Vincent, the serial burglar killed by a 78-year-old pensioner a week-and-a-half ago.

Henry Vincent, the serial burglar killed by a 78-year-old pensioner a week-and-a-half ago

It is from this estate that a seemingly endless stream of men and women have been taking themselves off to the pensioner’s street in Hither Green, South-East London, and creating a shrine to ‘their fallen hero’.

Outraged residents have, in turn, torn down these flower-laden shrines, only for them to reappear. Police caused further tension this week when they seemingly backed the mourners, urging the citizens of South Park Crescent to allow the criminal’s family to grieve, pointing out, without irony, that laying flowers was not a crime.

It is a case that sums up just how skewed the scales of justice have become in modern Britain. For now, though, back to St Mary Cray and a little background on the notorious Vincent clan.

Only in a biological sense can they be described as a family; fiercely united by bonds of kinship, yes, but in every other respect they are nothing less than a ruthless criminal gang.

Their modus operandi is targeting the elderly. They specialise in conning, intimidating and burgling pensioners: no one else, just pensioners.

It was during a break-in last week at the home of 78-year-old Richard Osborn-Brooks and his disabled wife, Maureen, that a leading figure in the clan, serial offender Henry Vincent, ended up being stabbed with his own screwdriver during a scuffle with the former RAC office manager. Vincent, 37, collapsed and died after staggering onto the pavement.

To his relatives and friends here in the vicinity of Teal Avenue, the street in St Mary Cray where Vincent grew up, he is a martyr and a folk hero, as indicated by the messages on the cards they have left at the scene.

‘Henry boy. You was too good to walk the earth,’ read one.

The universally popular Mr Osborn-Brooks, initially held on suspicion of murder before being released without charge, is now in hiding amid fear of reprisals. The Vincent clan have even demanded an apology from him.

Life in St Mary Cray, on the other hand, a 20-minute drive from Hither Green, continues as normal.

St Mary Cray is at the heart of one of the largest settled populations of travellers in Europe, as evidenced by the number of stone horse heads on gate posts — a way of displaying gipsy heritage. There are only two small caravan sites in the Borough of Bromley with room for around 50 plots, so around 1,000 traveller families — the Vincents among them — have been provided with housing association properties.

For ‘work’, the Vincents fleece the old in a variety of mainly cowboy building scams. One of their victims was charged £72,000 to repair a single roof tile.

To his relatives and friends here in the vicinity of Teal Avenue, the street in St Mary Cray where Vincent grew up, he is a martyr and a folk hero, as indicated by the flowers left at the scene

Their vile tricks of the trade include showing rotten pieces of wood they have brought with them to convince octogenarians they need repairs done. They also like to squirt water onto the interior walls of pensioners’ homes to pretend there is a damp problem.

Henry Vincent’s father, Henry Vincent senior, is a master of these dirty tricks. His last known prison sentence for such an offence ended only recently.

In all, we can reveal, at least nine members of the Vincent family have been in prison.

In the driveways of their homes, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus and Range Rover luxury cars are parked.

Historically, gipsies, including many from Ireland, were attracted to Kent — known as the ‘Garden of England’ — to pick fruit, vegetables and hops.

A long line of Vincents, were born, grew up and married in the area around St Mary Cray.

They cite occupations such as farm labourer, landscape gardener and, without even a hint of irony, builder on family birth and marriage certificates.

Even so, there is suspicion among some outside gipsy circles that the police have adopted a ‘softly, softly’ approach towards the traveller community in general and the Vincents in particular. Take the circumstances surrounding the arrest of 19-year-old John Vincent — a first cousin of Henry Vincent — in 2011.

He was charged with murder after 17-year-old Tommy Warde, a pillion passenger on a motorbike, was fatally struck by a plank of wood during the London riots. Before John Vincent was picked up, police went to see senior figures in the Vincent clan, a close friend of the victim’s family told us this week.

Police caused further tension this week when they seemingly backed the mourners, urging the citizens of South Park Crescent to allow the criminal’s family to grieve, pointing out, without irony, that laying flowers was not a crime

Those ‘senior figures’ then accompanied officers to Vincent’s house when they arrived to bring him in.

‘I could not believe that happened,’ said the friend. ‘If that was anyone else, they would have just kicked down the door and arrested the suspect. There is one rule for them and a different rule for everyone else.’ Detectives were met with a wall of silence from the gipsy community in St Mary Cray during the subsequent murder investigation.

A £20,000 reward was put up for information, but no one is understood to have come forward. The case against John Vincent subsequently collapsed during a trial at the Old Bailey.

The Vincents drink at The Mary Rose Inn in the heart of the old village of St Mary Cray. Beneath the beams of the 16th-century tavern one afternoon earlier this week, a cousin of the late Henry Vincent was sitting playing cards in a side room with a younger member of his family.

The older man, who didn’t give his name, became visibly angry at the very mention of his relative. ‘I am fuming,’ he declared. ‘Why have people not got anything nice to say about him or us?’

In the circumstances, the Crimestoppers poster displayed outside the police station almost opposite the Mary Rose Inn seemed somewhat ironic.

‘Let us help you stop criminals damaging the reputation of Gypsies & Travellers and disrespecting the community,’ the advert declared.

Further evidence of ‘disrespecting the community’ can be found not far from the hotel in Star Lane, where many of the travellers live. The winding, tree-lined country road is blighted by fly-tipping, mattresses, plastic cartons and other detritus lining the route.

The vandelised shrine to burglar Henry Vincent outside the home of pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks

‘There have been burglaries on that (travellers’) estate like everywhere else these days,’ said one local.

‘I know of one woman who came home to find her house had been broken into. Her front room had been cleared out — furniture, television, the lot. It was completely empty.

‘She looked in the window of a house opposite and her entire front room was in that house. Some of these people are so brazen. They just don’t care.’

It is not known if travellers were responsible for the break-in.

So who are the people who have been placing flowers and tributes at the shrine to Henry Vincent? One of them was his cousin, Elvina Lee.

‘Murder is murder,’ she declared. ‘I don’t care how it’s done. He took his life. I’ve got no sympathy for him. When other people die, they put flowers — why can’t we? We’re not allowed because we’re gipsies.’

Back in St Mary Cray, our inquiries led us to the semi in Teal Avenue with the two stone horse heads either side of the front door. Brothers Amos and William Vincent have both been linked to the address.

Amos, we have learned, ‘absconded’ from an open prison a month ago, and is currently on the run.

He was serving yet another sentence for preying upon the elderly — his third time in prison since posing with his brother as officials from the water board, with two elderly women, aged 83 and 90, falling prey to them.

After a Neighbourhood Watch group publicised the thefts on Facebook, another member of the family, apparently — Bill Vincent — posted a vile response.

‘The old b******s deserved everything they get. So stupid handing over thousands upon thousands . . . Old c***s ain’t safe. Take every penny they got. Get old b******s to remortgage, take the money and let erm get chucked owt nxt one [sic].’

The posts were later deleted.

You couldn’t make it up.

The burglar and his clan who prey on elderly HENRY JOSEPH VINCENT (AKA Henry junior) The dead burglar’s known criminal career dates back to 2003 when, aged just 23, he was part of a £1 million cowboy builder scam with his father and five uncles. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years, but was soon back to his old tricks. In 2008, again with his father, he scammed a pensioner out of £72,000 to replace a single roof tile — showing the pensioner a handful of maggots as evidence his roof needed replacing — and was jailed for six years. The dead burglar’s known criminal career dates back to 2003 when, aged just 23, he was part of a £1 million cowboy builder scam with his father and five uncles Released early, by 2013 he was on Kent Police’s ‘most wanted’ list in connection with a burglary in which an 84-year-old woman was conned out of thousands of pounds by men posing as police officers. But he was deemed unfit to stand trial — for reasons unknown. Then, in January this year, police named Vincent and his uncle’s stepson, Billy Jeeves, as wanted in connection with a ‘distraction’ burglary in which a 70-year-old man’s jewellery was stolen. HENRY CHARLES VINCENT (Henry junior’s father) In 2003, Henry senior, then 44, was described as the leader of a seven-strong family gang of cowboy builders who had fleeced elderly householders of more than £1 million. The gang would frogmarch their vulnerable victims to the bank after telling them their houses were about to fall down. The seven were jailed for a total of nearly 30 years. Henry senior, now 59, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years. In 2003, Henry senior, then 44, was described as the leader of a seven-strong family gang of cowboy builders who had fleeced elderly householders of more than £1 million Just five years later, in 2008, he joined his son once again to swindle an 81-year-old man out of £72,000 for roof repairs. This time, however, he went on the run, leaving his son to take the rap (for which he was jailed). Henry senior was caught in September 2010 and jailed for six years the following August. His current whereabouts are unknown. ROBERT VINCENT (Henry senior’s brother) Uncle Robert was one of seven members of the Vincent Clan who appeared at Croydon Crown Court in 2003. He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for his part in the building scam. In 2011, Robert, 48, brother James and their cousin Amos, 27, were jailed for 17 years and four months for trying to con elderly people out of thousands of pounds for unnecessary home repairs. Pictured: Uncles Robert Vincent (right) and James Vincent (left). The brothers were arrested after cold-calling the home of an elderly couple and telling them they needed roof repairs costing £2,800 The brothers were arrested after cold-calling the home of an elderly couple and telling them they needed roof repairs costing £2,800. Robert was sentenced to eight years for two charges of fraud. Released early, in August last year the 47-year-old was back at Wood Green Crown Court, where he was sentenced to five years and three months after admitting fraud by false representation. He’d tried to trick a pensioner into signing over his £540,000 house to pay for work that was never carried out. In 2011, Robert, 48, brother James and their cousin Amos (pictured), 27, were jailed for 17 years and four months for trying to con elderly people out of thousands of pounds for unnecessary home repairs DAVID VINCENT (Henry senior’s brother) David Vincent, 50, was sentenced to six years in prison for his part in the cowboy builder scam in 2003. He and his 42-year-old brother Clifford, 42, were responsible for the ‘worst offence’, duping an 80-year-old woman from Streatham, South London, into handing over £27,000 for building repairs. After quizzing her about her relatives, and driving her to the bank to withdraw £1,000 of her last £1,700, the brothers persuaded the pensioner to sign over her £150,000 house in return for free repairs for the rest of her life. A surveyor later estimated that just £250 worth of work had been carried out. JOHN VINCENT (Henry senior’s brother) Uncle John, 55, next brother in line to Henry senior, was sentenced to two years for his role in the cowboy builder scam. CLIFFORD VINCENT (Henry senior’s brother) Uncle Clifford, 42, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for his involvement. STEVEN VINCENT (Henry senior’s brother) Uncle Steven, 53, was sentenced to 21 months for his part in the scam. Uncle Steven, 53, was sentenced to 21 months for his part in the scam JAMES VINCENT (Henry senior’s brother) In 2011, Uncle Jimmy, 46, was jailed for six years for his part in a building scam with brother Robert and cousin Amos. After sentencing, Det Sgt Keith Simmonett said: ‘These are three callous, unremorseful individuals whose aim is to con as many elderly people as possible.’ AMOS VINCENT (Henry senior’s first cousin) In 2007, police were forced to offer an underworld amnesty for the return of a pensioner’s war medals after Amos, 35, and his brother, William, posed as water board officials to scam their way into the 82-year-old former airman’s home. Amos, then 23, was jailed for three years after admitting the medal theft and a second distraction burglary. He was next jailed for 40 months, with cousins James and Robert, for yet another rogue builder scam of the elderly. In September 2015, he was jailed for a further six years after preying on elderly victims in Gravesend and Maidstone. Now 37, William was jailed for four years for two distraction burglaries of elderly people, carried out with brother Amos He’s currently on the run after absconding from HMP Standford Hill open prison. WILLIAM VINCENT (Henry senior’s first cousin) Now 37, William was jailed for four years for two distraction burglaries of elderly people, carried out with brother Amos. BILLY JEEVES (Henry senior’s step-nephew) Related to Henry junior and senior through his mother Tina (the partner of uncle David Vincent), 28-year-old Billy’s criminal history is similarly unsavoury. Now on the run, he was just 18 when he was one of three men who posed as policemen in an attempt to steal a car, unaware that the occupants of the car were plain-clothed police officers. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge. In January this year, police said they were still looking for the criminal in connection with a distraction burglary carried out in November, in Farningham, Kent. Related to Henry junior and senior through his mother Tina (the partner of uncle David Vincent), 28-year-old Billy’s criminal history is similarly unsavoury Advertisement

Additional reporting: STEPHANIE CONDRON