This is the millionaire slum landlord behind the ‘illegal shanty town’ housing up to 120 Eastern European migrants in one of Britain’s most exclusive roads.
Wearing a bright red sweater Gerry Fitzgerald is pictured with his family inside his £2million mansion in Mill Hill, one of the most sought-after suburbs of London.
The proud 60-year-old father-of-four can be seen cradling one of his grandchildren, standing next to his wife Laura, 64.
Fitzgerald’s oldest son Denis Fitzgerald, 40, is a director of industrial electrical installations firm D2 Electrical Services Ltd and building refurbishment firm Rhodes Fitzgerald Ltd, also known as Maltwood.
Slum landlord: Gerry Fitzgerald, 60, (pictured red jumper) is the millionaire builder behind the ‘illegal shanty town’ of 120 Eastern European migrants in one of Britain’s most exclusive roads.
Shanty town: Fitzgerald is said to have constructed up to a dozen multi-bed cabins on the plot in Totteridge, north London, on land next door to his £2million mock Tudor mansion
Squeeze: Up to 120 Eastern European migrants, mostly Romanians, pay Fitzgerald around £400 per month each to share a bedroom in pairs as well as bathrooms and kitchens.
Squalid: The tenants, who fear they will be evicted if they complain, also share a kitchen (pictured) as they go out to work earning a minimum wage. Work is believed to have begun on Monday morning to tear down some of the temporary cabins where they have been living.
Fitzgerald’s younger son Paul Fitzgerald, 32, is a director of Hawksmoor Construction Ltd, a building firm. He was previously a director of Maltwood.
He also has two grown-up and daughters, Victoria, 38, and Christina, 30.
Although born in UK both Denis Fitzgerald and Paul Fitzgerald claim Irish nationality, according to Companies House records.
Fitzgerald bought his mansion in November 2003 for £950,000. It is now worth an estimated £2 million.
Millionaire builder’s wife: Laura Fitzgerald, 64, has four children with husband, Gerry.
The millionaire builder’s neighbours include business tycoon Mike Ashley and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
But next door to his luxury Mock-Tudor property, is a shanty town that is home to up to 120 Eastern European migrant, mostly Romanian, workers.
The ‘slum landlord’ is said to have constructed up to a dozen multi-bed cabins on the plot in North London at an average value of £333 per month per tenant, earning him a reported £40,000 per month, it is claimed.
One told MailOnline: ‘That is Fitzgerald, the man who owns the camp. The man in the red jumper is the man who takes the rent. He is the man I pay my rent to.’
Sleeping two to a room, on rickety beds and under thin blankets in a damp, airless room, occupants must share a squalid, tiny bathroom with cracked walls and a broken up kitchen, paying up to £400-a-month for the privilege.
There are similar cramped conditions in up to a dozen mobile homes spread across the sprawling site.
However, yesterday Fitzgerald began pulling a section of it down.
Shabby: Sleeping two to a room, on rickety beds and under thin blankets in a damp, airless room, occupants must share a squalid, tiny bathroom with cracked walls and a broken up kitchen, paying up to £400-a-month for the privilege.
Earner: Fitzgerald allegedly earns nearly half a million pounds each year from the migrants with some of them thought to be paying rent from their taxpayer-funded benefits but denied the allegations when questioned. Pictured: An aerial view of the site where 120 migrants live.
Millionaires’ row: Fitzgerald’s detached £2million home with a Mercedes parked on the drive sits on one of London’s most exclusive roads where Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and Sports Direct chief Mike Ashley are neighbours
A neighbour said: You could hear crashing and it was obvious something was being knocked down.’
One of the tenants told MailOnline: ‘Some of the cabins have been knocked down. But there are still lots of people living in other cabins.
‘The owner began knocking them down yesterday without warning. There was no one living inside those cabins. They have all gone back home to Romania or they have found other places to live in town.’
Barnet Council planning inspectors investigated the site after neighbours complained in January 2016, and Mr Fitzgerald was ordered to dismantle the ‘sub-standard accommodation’ for around 50 people.
Although it was built on the Green Belt without permission, Fitzgerald began a High Court battle to challenge the order to tear down what has been described as the ‘Third World slum’ in his back garden.
Used: One shanty town resident, a hard-working Eastern European migrant, who shares a bathroom (pictured) says he feels exploited by his landlord. ‘The owners are making money from our misery,’ the Romanian, who asked not to be identified for fear of being evicted.
An unnamed migrant, who spoke to MailOnline anonymously, said if he complains about the poor living conditions (pictured) he will be evicted. ‘If anyone makes a complaint they are told to leave immediately,’ he added.
Damp: A migrant living there told MaiOnline: ‘We try to keep it as clean as we can but it is not easy. The cabin is very small and it is damp. There is heating but the blankets are thin and the bathroom is cracked and covered in mold.
Aerial images reveal the site contains a courtyard and a maze of rooms linked together by narrow corridors.
A neighbour said: ‘You can’t go building mini villages for migrant workers. People need real homes, not sheds in gardens.’
Another added: ‘It’s like a shanty town. There must be 120 people there. If the wood caught fire it would all go up. They collect people, all Romanian, from the airport all the time. Men work in the day then sleep in beds used by the men working nightshifts.
‘I got told there’s at least 120 if not 150 in there and he makes £40,000 a month.’
It is alleged that married Mr Fitzgerald pays a Romanian couple to run the operation and that they collect new tenants from the airport ‘all the time’.