Neighbours from hell

LOCKED out: the house in Manor Road, Roundthorn is now under a three-month closure order

RELIEVED residents have welcomed a move to evict nuisance neighbours following new anti-social behaviour powers which came into force this week.

Years of complaints about drug use and disruptive behaviour resulted in one of the first evictions of its kind under changes to the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act.

Tricia O’Connor (30) and Jason Wakeford (41) are now banned from entering their former home on Manor Road, Roundthorn for three months.

A neighbour said: “We have suffered all day, every day for the last five years. It has been 24-hours-a-day of living hell. We are physically and mentally drained.

“There has been drilling, smoke, drug fumes, noise, banging, shouting, drug use and people going in and out of the house at all times of the day and night. We have been through hell.”

The house has been visited several times over the past five years and evidence of Class A drug use discovered.

Now the neighbours have been removed, the community hopes to regain some sense of normality. The neighbour added: “We feel a bit better knowing they have gone.”

Councillor Barbara Brownridge, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods, believes the new powers herald a crackdown on problem tenants: “This action is the first of its kind in the borough and we understand one of the first in the country. We hope this delivers a hard-hitting message to those who illegally take drugs and cause a nuisance.”