A "cuckoo" family who moved into a Brighton woman's house and set up home have been evicted by police.

Officers swooped on the maisonette in Bolney Road, Moulsecoomb, where the couple and their two teenage children have been living since the autumn.

The father, from Jamaica, identified by immigration officials as having overstayed his UK visa, was arrested and will be deported.

His wife and children are being rehoused in temporary accommodation after packing their belongings into a waiting car.

The eviction was part of Operation Entry, a series of raids which continued today.

A neighbour said: "They were a very strange couple. They used to wake us up with these ferocious arguments at 2am.

"I had no idea they'd just taken the flat over. I hope now they've gone we can get some peace and quiet."

Another neighbour said: "The flat was let to a girl and she'd invite people to stay with her. Some were quite unsavoury.

"There was a police raid in the summer when they cleared another family out. The place was boarded up but she somehow managed to get it back and soon afterwards this family moved in.

"They must have been here since before Bonfire Night because they went to a neighbour's fireworks party. The chap went round introducing himself to everyone as if he owned the place.

"But they'd always say hello and they seemed to be quite a nice family."

Sgt Steve Curry said: "The council had received complaints that the tenant had been forced out of her home by these Jamaicans who moved in to the premises."

The family is thought to have set up home in a string of houses belonging to other people until yesterday's action.

In an earlier raid yesterday morning, two bags full of syringes were found in the bedroom of a blood-spattered flat in Nelson Row, near to the police headquarters in John Street.

A Jamaican man was arrested under immigration laws and was last night being questioned.

A man and woman, both in their 30s, were arrested on suspicion of drugs offences.

A woman in her 20s was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

A third raid yesterday took place on a house in Saunders Park View. A woman was arrested under the Misuse of Drugs Act.