http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=299573
SIX YEARS OF HELL
Published on 08/11/2005
By Phil Coleman
RESIDENTS from Longsowerby in Carlisle are celebrating after winning a six-year battle to get rid of a neighbour from hell.
A judge has approved the eviction of Dorothy Lane, 32, and her four children after neighbours revealed how they endured a six-year catalogue of intolerable behaviour.
The ruling means Miss Lane and her children – sons aged 14, 13, and five, and her nine-year-old daughter – must leave their three-bedroom terraced home in Waldegrave Road by 11am today.
Housing chiefs took the family to court after being bombarded by more than 200 official complaints from Ms Lane’s neighbours.
In the nine months to September, Carlisle Housing Association (CHA) received 200 official complaints about the family from 13 families in Waldegrave Road and two neighbouring streets.
Miss Lane’s oldest son alone was blamed for 34 incidents of antisocial behaviour.
Housing officials have blamed the nightmare on the failure of Miss Lane and her partner Robert Heatley to control the children.
Carlisle county court heard on Friday how the children and their loutish pals ran amok, driving out two families who were their next door neighbours.
Their antics included:
In one incident, a thug hurled a garden gate through a bus window while on another occasion Miss Lane stood by as her two oldest sons smashed up the family car, showering the street and pavement with glass.
Next door neighbours Alexander Falconer and his wife Patricia, who have two adult daughters, were so distressed by the family’s behaviour they moved out.
Mr Falconer detailed a catalogue of distressing incidents, saying the Lane children regularly woke them in the night.
At 4.15am on July 8, they were woken by a loud burst of music from the Lane house.
The following day, at 5.15am, the peace was shattered by banging and hammering from next door, followed two-and-a-half hours later by loud radio music.
The Lane house became a refuge for truants, who spent time there fixing motorbikes and hiding.
Mr Falconer said: “Our quality of life was becoming worse and worse. At times we were so distressed we couldn’t cope and got into our car and drove away for the day.”
George Bradley, who also left Waldegrave Road due to the Lane family, saw the oldest boy wandering the streets, pointing an air rifle at people.
Mum-of-two Jane Harrison, who lives opposite the Lanes, said: “Their behaviour was antisocial from the start. The children would often throw stones at passing traffic and at buses.”
Mrs Harrison often saw children climbing from upstairs windows, and on to the porch roof.
In school holidays, her children stayed in because the Lane children were aggressive, throwing stones and using a catapult to fire objects at her.
The Lane family kept their pet rabbit in a wheelie-bin but it escaped and was later found nearby with its ear hanging off, said Mrs Harrison, who gave it to the RSPCA.
Miss Lane failed to appear for the court hearing on Friday, when Judge Anthony James refused to halt the eviction, ruling that it should go ahead today.
Speaking after the hearing, Mrs Harrison, 39, said: “It’s an enormous relief. I’m so happy I could cry. It really has been hellish having her as a neighbour.
“We saw Dorothy Lane leave the house on Sunday night and we think she’s gone to London with her children.
“We got together with the people who used to live next door to her and had a few drinks and celebrated the fact she’s been evicted.
“It means we can stay, but it’s just a shame we had to lose two good neighbours who moved out because of her.”
Steve Harrison, CHA’s tenancy enforcement officer, said the association faces a £10,000 bill for legal fees, repairs, and rent arrears. Hiring skips for the rubbish the family left behind is expected to cost around £1,000.
He said:“We did everything we could to try to resolve these problems. Unfortunately, we were forced into this action.
“Miss Lane seemed to have little control over her tenancy or her children.”
Miss Lane, who as the official tenant of the mid-terraced house owes £1,944 in unpaid rent, is entitled to seek emergency accommodation from a local authority.
But neighbours said they believe she has now left with her family to live with relatives in London.
On Waldegrave Road, residents told how the family’s apparent departure on Sunday coincided with a bonfire in their back garden.
It had to be put out by firefighters. One neighbour said: “They were a menace and I’m pleased they’ve gone.
“Kids of all ages were in and out of that house like yo-yos.
“The man who lived next door to them was a Church of Scotland minister and his family were nice, gentle people. Yet when the Lanes moved in, the first thing the Lanes’ boys did was use the bedroom window as a toilet.
“I’ve lived here for 47 years and it’s been the worst six years in the street’s history. Now we can breathe easy.”
Not everybody in the street was critical of Dorothy Lane. Two women residents and a man, none of whom would be named, said she and her children were “picked on”.
“Dorothy’s got a heart of gold,” one said. “It was kids from Denton Holme who were coming here and causing the trouble, but her kids got the blame.”
The woman added: “I supposed she could have controlled her kids more.”
When her neighbours first complained, Miss Lane said: “They all stick together. They’ve wanted me out since the day I moved here and jump on anything that happens.”