Brighton gang members 'following pensioners into their flats'

That is according to Brighton and Hove City Councillor Dawn Barnett.

She has been told about cases in flats near the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and in Ditchling Road.

Gang members are said to have followed people in their 80s before taking over their homes.

They then use the properties to run criminal activity as part of the practice known as cuckooing.

Conservative Councillor Barnett said: “We’ve got a lot of over-50s housing blocks up by the hospital and on the Ditchling Road that have been targeted for cuckooing and we need to protect our elderly residents there.

“The over-50s blocks need CCTV cameras in the entrance to see who’s going in and out because there have been cases of cuckooing in those blocks with the very elderly.

“These council-run over-50s blocks have some vulnerable residents in their 80s and I’m aware of cases where they’ve been cuckooed two or three times.”

READ MORE: How County Lines drug gangs are abusing children in Brighton

Cuckooing is named after thebirds which take over other birds’ nests. The practice is linked to county lines drug dealing involving London gangs.

Cllr Barnett has called for Brighton and Hove City Council to install CCTV cameras at the blocks to protect elderly residents. She said: “Until the council gets on top of this drug dealing and cuckooing going on at council-owned property we’re not going to get anywhere with tackling crime in the city.

Officers from across the UK have been tackling London drugs gangs selling in counties including Sussex

“We need CCTV and I’ll be asking for it at the next council meeting for housing.”

Cllr Barnett said the police have been doing a “good job” tackling the issue.

Brighton and Hove is now the number one spot in the UK for county lines drug dealing. This is due, in part, to its proximity to London and the demand for drugs such as cocaine. Children as young as ten are being recruited through social media by gangs to hold drugs and weapons.

In some cases the dealers will take over a property belonging to a vulnerable person and use it to operate their criminal activity.

Sussex Police arrested 20 people in the city last week in a crackdown on county lines drug gangs.

County lines is where illegal drugs are transported from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries

A police spokesman said: “Dealers often convince the vulnerable person to let their home be used for drug dealing by giving them free drugs or offering to pay for food or utilities.

“Often organised crime groups (OCGs) target people who are lonely, isolated, or have addiction issues. It’s common for OCGs to use a property for a short amount of time, moving address frequently to reduce the chance of being caught.

“Signs to look out for include frequent visitors at unsociable hours, changes in your neighbour’s daily routine, unusual smells coming from a property, suspicious or unfamiliar vehicles outside an address.

“If you’re concerned about drug-related crime in your area or think someone may be a victim of drug exploitation, please call us on 101.”

Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle previously said the city is fighting an overwhelming battle against the ever-powerful cartels. He believes legislation needs changing to allow police the power to effectively fight back.

Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle

He said: “The law on criminal drug gangs needs fundamentally rethinking.

“Police are doing the best they can to disrupt county lines with the measure they have, but the home office has failed to reform and update the laws to truly tackle the issue.

“We need to make children repulsive to criminals and Priti Patel has failed to focus on this issue.”

A council spokesman said: “We take the issue of cuckooing very seriously and work with the police to investigate any evidence of this behaviour. We are not aware of any evidence that a lot of over-50s housing blocks have been targeted for cuckooing.

“We are aware of concerns Cllr Barnett has raised in relation to two council housing blocks in the city. These blocks are for people of all ages, not specifically for over-50s. We found no evidence of cuckooing. We would urge anyone with such evidence to phone Sussex Police.”