A tearaway who terrorised a housing estate has cost his mother her home.

Geraldine Gumbrill has been given 28 days to leave her flat in Whitehawk, Brighton, thanks to the behaviour of her son Lee.

Gumbrill, 20, who lives with his father Paul in Woodingdean, has been a constant menace on the Whitehawk Estate and has been in trouble with the law for abuse and violence.

Ms Gumbrill, 45, said: "I am absolutely suicidal. I have to leave my house in little under a month and they are making me homeless. It has nothing to do with me whatsoever. Lee is 20 and an adult. He is not a child.

"If they have a problem with Lee, that is his business and not mine. If he was 13 or 14 then fair enough but he's a fully- grown adult. Now I have to pay for his sins."

Gumbrill said he felt guilty his mother was being forced to leave her home but he stopped short of offering her any help.

He said: "They shouldn't blame my mum. They should be blaming me, if anyone. I would try to speak to the council but they would only ignore me.

"I do feel responsible for what's happened and, of course, I feel guilty. They are making her homeless and I can't help. I would not be able to support my mum on my wages. The council is to blame for all this as they have had it in for me from day one.

"I just want to settle down now. I've got a job as a builder and want to get rid of all this stress."

The Brighton and Hove Community Safety Team says it is the first case it has ever dealt with where the tenant being evicted is not the one causing the trouble.

Yesterday at Brighton County Court, a possession order was obtained by Brighton and Hove City Council for Ms Gumbrill's Swallow Court home.

In May, Gumbrill was made the subject of a strict "good behaviour" order for 12 months for a string of violence and abuse against his mother's neighbours. Last month he was banished from the estate and given an eight-month suspended prison sentence for breaching the order.

For many years Gumbrill had abused his neighbours, caused damage to council property and made the lives of local residents a misery.

Ms Gumbrill, who was in court to hear the eviction news yesterday, was distraught.

She said: "I am frantic with worry as I have nowhere to go and have no money. I can't afford to privately rent as landlords will want a deposit that I haven't got.

"The courts didn't believe me when I said I had been depressed, even though I have been on medication for two years. I'm tearing my hair at the moment.

"This has been my home for 12 years and now they want me out. I blame the council for what has happened, not Lee.

"He has been treated unfairly. Whenever he goes out, he is surrounded by police. He has had nothing but hassle.

"All my energy has been sapped out of me and I don't know how much longer I fight them. I am thinking of starting afresh in a different part of the country, away from Brighton - and Lee."

John Mitchell, community safety ream leader, said: "This tenancy has been a magnet for nuisance and anti-social behaviour. The application has been in the pipeline for months."

Angharad Hughes, community safety team solicitor, said: "This case shows that tenants can lose their homes if they fail to control members of their household."