The “horrendous” tenants of a nightmare drug flat would set fire to things and fight in the street, according to terrified neighbours.
The ground floor flat at 69 King Street, in Wallasey, was tinned up last month after people complained their lives were being made a misery by the anti-social behaviour and drug-related criminal activity taking place at the property.
The behaviour included threats to people on the street, shouting, swearing, drug use and people banging on the property to be let in at anti-social hours. Wirral Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour Team started receiving complaints on November 5, 2021 , but despite a closure warning being served to the tenant, the behaviour continued.
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A closure notice was served on the property on June 7, only allowing the tenant to remain until a full hearing. On June 10 a three-month Full Closure Order was granted by Liverpool Magistrates Court to prevent anyone from entering the property and provide much needed respite to the local community.
On Monday, June 20, Wirral Council and Merseyside Police successfully closed the flat and the tenant was removed from the property and one neighbour, who didn’t want to be named due to safety concerns, told the ECHO that the order had been “a long time coming”.
They said: “It was going on for a long time. People would be out in the street arguing and knocking over bins in the middle of the road. The fire brigade was called a few times because they kept setting fire to things.
“King Street is rife with anti-social behaviour so, if something stands out here, it must be bad.”
The neighbour also claimed people who visited the flat would occasionally gain access through the windows. Another neighbour recalled how a man would ride up and down the street on a children’s scooter, wearing a cowboy hat.
They said: “You could see him carrying around mattresses covered in stains. He’d burn rubbish to get the scrap metal out.
“A couple would always be walking up and down the road arguing with each other. It was horrendous.”
Speaking about life on the street following the closure notice, one neighbour told the ECHO: “It’s definitely quieter here in the day because there was always something going on when they lived there.”
The order remains in place until September 13, 2022, and prohibits any person from entering the property unless they have permission to do so from Wirral Anti-Social Behaviour Team. Anyone found to be in the property with no legal entitlement to be there are subject to being arrested and are liable for a prison sentence of up to three months or a fine of up to £5,000 or both.
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