Surely if that were the case, a mistake by another party, given the landownder (old or new, whichever) was named and shamed (OK, briefly) in the local papers, etc, you'd think they would want to speak out to clear their name? Unless any legal action prevents that?
I was in the area a few weeks back, I grew up close by and was back visiting the folks - I didn't stop to look any of the times I passed that week as frankly I was afraid of what I might see :-(