NEIGHBOURS spoke of their delight this week after hearing that two men had been thrown out of their rented Dawlish flat after a groundbreaking Police Closure Order.
For more than six months residents in Oak Park Villas were subjected to a life of misery by David Johnson, 30, Simon Goy, 35 and their visitors.
It led to Jane Thomson and husband Gary boarding up their flat.
On Tuesday, South Devon magistrates sitting in Newton Abbot agreed to impose a closure notice for six weeks – the joint first in Devon alongside another in Plymouth on the same day.
Soon after the hearing, police and Teignbridge Council staff went to the premises, allowing the two men to collect personal effects before the locks were changed and the windows and doors boarded up.
Both Johnson and Goy have left the district.
Recalling the nightmare, Mrs Thomson, a dispenser, told this paper that, as well as the windows, her front door was boarded up and they moved into the bedroom furthest away from the two men's flat, which was the only room left with light.
'Until they moved in next door we had no problems. It was a lovely quiet place to live and all the neighbours used to go out into the garden and socialise,' she said, adding that it stopped because of the havoc they were causing.
She said their windows were smashed, vehicles vandalised, the two men's kitchen windows were broken, loud music was played – sometimes all through the night – there was a lot of fighting between the two and recycling caddies were thrown off the balcony and smashed.
Mrs Thomson claimed there were also drugs and alcohol problems and that a dealer used to knock on the door, while ambulances called regularly two or three times a week.
Another neighbour, Kate Partridge, said it had been a nightmare since the pair moved in.
'I do not think I have seen them sober since they moved here. They do not have any respect for noise, they are constantly slamming doors and cupboards and you hear them threatening people on the phone.
'I had a double glazed front door, a reinforced security chain with five extra bolts and double glazing installed.
'When Jane's glazier began work on her broken windows they threatened to beat him up,' claimed Ms Partridge, who works in the Highways Agency control room.
Because the two women were afraid to venture out if the two men or their visitors were around, they used to phone each other to say the coast was clear or otherwise.
'It has just been terrifying. You could tell when things were about to turn nasty.
'It used to be a quiet place to live and we are looking forward to it being like that again. I do not think it has really sunk in yet,' said Ms Partridge
The two women had a special word of thanks for Andy Davies, Teignbridge Council's anti social behaviour officer and the police.
'We are very fortunate that they have put in so much hard work to get this resolved,' they said.