A COUPLE who spent 12 years and all their savings battling for the right to stay in their Blunsdon home have vowed to fight on until the council forces them to demolish it.

John and Eileen Saveall have lived in an adapted caravan on a site known as Edenfield in Kingsdown Lane since 1991.

But Swindon Council says this breaks its planning rules and has been locked in a legal battle with the couple for more than a decade. At Swindon Magistrates Court yesterday, the Savealls were found guilty of breaching an enforcement notice ordering the removal of the adapted caravan.

Mr and Mrs Saveall were fined £500 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs. They immediately announced they would be appealing against the decision to Swindon Crown Court .

Speaking after the trial, 61-year-old Mrs Saveall said the couple had spent all their savings on legal bills but were not prepared to give up.

"It's not the end of the world," she said.

"We still have our home and we fight on until we can't go any further.

"If we have to demolish it we would be absolutely devastated. It's been my home for the past 14 years." Mr Saveall, 63, said: "We know we are right."

The couple ran a smallholding on the site for about 12 years but gave up after foot and mouth two years ago.

Mr Saveall works at Haynes of Challow scrapyard in East Challow, near Wantage and Mrs Saveall is retired.

The enforcement notice was made under the Town and Country Planning Act on June 10, 1998.

The final deadline for the removal of the structure was June 3, 2000.