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Gang leader banned from own estate
As the nuisance behaviour worsened last summer, neighbours contacted his landlord, Sovereign Housing Association, who began gathering evidence and brought in the police and council antisocial specialists to tackle the problem. A Reading judge recently ruled that Mr Pontin was to be excluded from South Whitley, when neighbours turned up to take the stand and testify. Sovereign Housing Officer Carolyn Poynter said: “It’s thanks to the dogged determination from neighbours who were not prepared to put up with the constant racket and late-night antics that we were able to secure the court order banning Mr Pontin from the area. “We could have repossessed the property, but that wouldn’t have been fair on the rest of the Pontin family, so this illustrates the range of solutions we have at our disposal if our residents refuse warnings and continue to misbehave.” The injunction means Mr Pontin has had to move elsewhere, and since the order, neighbours have said that the area is much quieter. Pc Tim Sturgess of Thames Valley Police, who had been dealing with the case and provided evidence to help secure the injunction, added: “This injunction shows that residents of South Whitley are not willing to allow themselves and others to become the victims of such high levels of antisocial behaviour. “My colleagues and I on the Whitley Neighbourhood Police Team will not tolerate communities living in fear, and we will work with Sovereign Housing Association and other partner agencies to tackle such problems.”
Published 24 January 2008 |
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 ©2008 Sovereign Housing Association Limited (charitable). All rights reserved. |
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A Whitley man has been banned from his housing estate after a gang made life a misery for neighbours with late-night drinking and riding mini-motorbikes up and down the street.