A 45-YEAR-OLD woman and her 26-year-old boyfriend have been thrown out of their Newton Abbot flat after police successfully applied for a closure order.

It is the first issued in the town and the first against an owner in Teignbridge.

Dawn Lewis, the owner, and Jamie Ryan, of Flat 4, 89 Wolborough Street, were barred from the building for two months – the maximum is three – by magistrates sitting in Exeter on Monday because of their anti social behaviour.

LIVING NIGHTMARE

Chairman John Jenkins told the pair that the bench was satisfied the other occupants of the building had been subjected to a living nightmare from loud music, disorder and serious nuisance.

He warned that after they collected any belongings from the flat with police – the flat would be boarded up – they could not return until November 26 and any breach of the order could lead to six months imprisonment.

Applying for a three months closure order on behalf of Devon and Cornwall Police, counsel James Taghdissian said it followed wholly unpleasant behaviour by Lewis, Ryan, Daniel White, 19, and Zoe Radford, 23.

He said White and Radford were not at court, apparently having moved to the north of England on Friday.

The four had engaged in anti social behaviour, certainly over the past month, and it was clear from evidence that it was for some time before that, he said.

Mr Taghdissian told the court there was significant, persistent disorder and serious nuisance was caused to residents of the other flats.

There was a catalogue of incidents which had caused persistent stress and trauma to neighbours.

HAMMER?ATTACK

'One resident described being assaulted by a hammer, another said it was mental torture, others described abuse, threats and physical threats, and neighbours had moved out of the flats,' he said.

Beat manager PC Ian Russell said there had been a lot of involvement with 89 Wolborough Street as a result of anti social behaviour.

He first became involved in December and early January as a result of issues there with Lewis when she had a previous relationship. Then it began again on August 17.

Asked what effect this had had on other residents, he replied: 'It has been absolutely horrendous. I have had residents on the phone in tears pleading with police to do something about it.'

PC Russell said a closure notice was issued on Monday last week and served and placed on the door of Flat 4.

Questioned as to what effect that had, he answered: 'We received another complaint about noise at 21.26 hours the same day. The tenant said they seemed to have rebelled and that she had never heard the music so loud'.

He said that since the notice was renewed on the Wednesday there had been little noise.

Questioned by Peter Seigne for Ryan, PC Russell said Ryan had been arrested on three occasions at the flat but none of those was for any behaviour that had taken place inside the building.

On September 14 he was arrested for alleged assault on a neighbour's boyfriend, but this complaint had since been withdrawn.

Answering questions from Mr Taghdissian, PC Russell said that in the alleged assault a neighbour had opened the door to a girl outside.

Shortly after two men came in and hit him on the head with a hammer and went on to hit his girlfriend with a hammer.

'They were shouting things like "grass", "bitch", "that will teach you". He had seen the two men before and they were linked to Flat 4,' he said.

The court heard that neighbours had stated the noise had been horrendous and some were too scared to approach the people in Flat 4.

ALCOHLOLIC

Appealing against the order, Ryan said he could not tell how long he had lived in the flat because he had memory problems through drinking.

'I started drinking when I was 13 years old and I am an alcoholic.

'Four of us were living in the flat. Daniel and Zoe had one bedroom and we had the front room,' he said.

Ryan said that of the three arrests two were for breach of bail and the third for alleged assault, charges for which had since been dropped.

He said no hammers were found but Daniel had admitted throwing a cup at a neighbour. 'I have bruises on my arms from what the guy downstairs done to me.

'I was not there when loud music was being played. Dan's partner Zoe is deaf and has to wear two earpieces. That is why the television is up loud.

'I never played loud music. I have never heard loud music coming from the flat. I have heard loud music from the flat above. Sometimes the tv goes up loud.

'When a neighbour knocked on the door and said the music was too loud and could I turn it down, I turned it down.

'We have not done this deliberately. I accept it might be a bit loud,' he said, but maintained he had not caused any disorder or serious nuisance.

Ryan denied that he had been swearing, playing loud music and making people's lives a misery. He maintained the neighbours were making it up and blaming it on Dawn Lewis because they did not like her just because she was small and could not take care of herself.

HOME OWNER

Lewis said she had lived in the flat for nearly three years having bought the leasehold for £92,000.

She said her 23-year-old son has serious medical problems and she visited him twice a week. She had a pony on her sister's Ideford farm to which she went mornings and evenings.

Lewis said she had a dog for 15 years but had it put down at a time when there was quite a bit of pressure between herself and one of her neighbours who had been horrible to her, saying the dog had fleas, etc, and she had banged on the neighbour's door.

For Lewis, Sean Brunton said the case against her relied on one incident in a four-week period out of three years.

'It might be that, rather than being evicted, Miss Lewis needs some help. Evicting her from the flat hardly seems the answer to the problem,' he stated.

Mr Taghdissian said the four main respondents had made the lives of other occupants in the building hell and mental torture as a result of their behaviour.

He said music had been played incredibly loudly from 4.30pm daily until the early hours and there had been sustained anti social behaviour by the group.

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