Abusive Brighton tenant evicted

For almost four years, William Marshall caused havoc at his block of council flats. But yesterday his home at The Lindens in Brighton was boarded up after Brighton and Hove City Council successfully evicted him for prolonged antisocial behaviour.

The council said Marshall subjected neighbours to noise, abuse and drunken behaviour from the flat, one of six in a block on the Sylvan Hall Estate, Ditchling Road.

They said antisocial behaviour increased when he invited members of his family to stay and the police were called regularly.

Neighbours spent years keeping diaries of what happened and recorded threats to kill, verbal abuse, criminal damage, screaming, loud music, drunken behaviour, under-age drinking and dog mess in the corridors.

One neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Everyone was too scared to go to court but in the end three of us said enough was enough.

“People were moving out because of them. The drinking would start at 10am or 11am and would carry on all day. There would then be shouting and screaming and you’d be afraid of leaving your own flat in case you became embroiled in it.

“On other days they would sit in their car and stare up at you through your window.

“At one point he had three dogs and there was dog mess all over the corridors. An elderly couple next to me said it had even been thrown up on to their balcony.”

Marshall, who is in his 40s, was issued with an antisocial behaviour agreement and when he ignored it, the council took legal action. Barry Hughes, chairman of Sylvan Hall Residents’ Association, said: “The bravery of the neighbours who stood up and confronted the nuisance and went to court, which is a very public thing to do, must be commended.”

Councillor Maria Caulfield, cabinet member for housing, said: “We are grateful to the residents who decided to stand up and be counted. Without their evidence it would have been much harder to get possession of the property.”