Alloa Advertiser | News | Flat trashed while tenant was in prison

Thursday, 15th May, 2008

Published: Wednesday, 7th May, 2008 12:00

Flat trashed while tenant was in prison

By Bob Lovik

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Image related to story, see caption or article text

Former prisoner Alexander Campbell shows the burn marks on the only rug left in the flat.

Pic by: Jan van der Merwe

AN ALLOA man who spent nine months in prison has become a victim of crime himself after squatters trashed his home and stole all his possessions while he was inside.

Alexander Campbell (26), who was recently released from Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison, returned to the flat where he stayed before being sent to jail to discover the windows were boarded up and the place had been gutted.

All his belongings, including a television, digital box, bed, two couches and all of his clothing, were gone.

Now he’s been hit with a massive rent arrears bill – despite claiming he asked the council to terminate his lease when he was sent to prison.

Mr Campbell told the Advertiser that after completing his custodial sentence, he applied to Clackmannanshire Council for accommodation, declaring himself homeless.

But he was told he already had a contract with the council for a property in Alloa’s Harris Court – and that he now owed £1700 in rent arrears.

Mr Campbell, however, claimed he terminated his contract when he was sent to prison for driving and shoplifting offences – but the council is adamant that it had no record of this.

Upset by the large amount of money he owed, penniless Mr Campbell returned to his former Harris Court home to find a devastating scene.

As well as losing all his possessions, a large window in the living room had been smashed and all of the carpeting in the home had been ripped up and removed. A large burn hole was left in the only remaining rug in the house, scorching the floor underneath.

The back garden looked like a tip – it was full of rubbish, and an old refrigerator, a dryer and a children’s playset had all been dumped while Mr Campbell was in prison.

His former bedroom had been stripped bare with the exception of an empty wardrobe and there was a £8.63 debt on the pre-pay electric metre.

While Mr Campbell was showing the Advertiser the destruction in the home, a representative from the council arrived to turn on the gas – but was unable to connect the supply because there was no electricity.

Facing a night in a destroyed flat with no heat, Mr Campbell told the Advertiser, “I don’t deserve to live like this. I used to be on heroin but not anymore. I’m clean. If I still was, I would probably just accept this but there is no way I deserve this. I’m trying to get my life back together.”

Mr Campbell said that he suspected squatters had been using the flat as a “party house”, pointing to the empty cider and beer cans in the kitchen. He also said that his neighbour had seen a group of people walking out the back door with his possessions.

When asked why his neighbour didn’t call the police, Mr Campbell replied, “You just don’t call the police around here. People don’t trust them. If something gets nicked you find out who did it and it gets taken care of. There is vigilante justice here.”

Despite the difficulties he has faced readjusting to life outside, though, Mr Campbell insisted he was going to make the best of things.

He said, “When I was inside, I made the most of my time. I worked as a barber and in the laundry. I took literacy and numeracy programmes and I also took a food and hygiene course. I’m rehabilitated and I’m not going to fall back into bad habits.”

A spokesperson at the council reiterated that Mr Campbell had never terminated his contract at Harris Court. The council was also unaware that the residence had been vandalised while he was in prison.

Senior homelessness casework officer, Lorraine Marshall, said, “Mr Campbell returned to Lime Tree House last Thursday saying that he could not stay in his property as it had been vandalised.

“At this point he was given temporary accommodation at Tarragon House until his property could be inspected and brought back up to a habitable standard.”

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