A campaign of harassment & abuse aimed at neighbours, shopkeepers & housing officials

51 year old Paul Thornes, who brought chaos, worry and fear to his neighbourhood has been evicted from his council-owned flat in Roehampton by a judge at Wandsworth County Court following a campaign of harassment and abuse aimed at neighbours, local shopkeepers and housing officials.


Paul Thorne

The court heard that Mr Thorne plagued his neighbours with loud music and noisy parties and that when summoned to attend an interview at the housing department to discuss his behaviour he verbally abused staff and vandalised council property.

He was prone to hurling litter and other objects off his balcony onto the pavement below and subjected shopkeepers in Danebury Avenue to sustained harassment, intimidation and verbal abuse.

As a result of his persistent anti-social behaviour the council began eviction proceedings against him but when notified this was happening, his immediate response was to break his washing machine so that it flooded not just his flat, but the home of a neighbour and also a shop unit underneath his property.

Having already caused this degree of mayhem, Mr Thorne did not stop there. After the council had gained entry to his flat to stop the leak from causing any more damage, he then decided to pull his toilet cistern off the wall causing yet more flooding. All in all his actions that day caused around £5,000 worth of damage.

He was finally evicted from his Danebury Avenue flat on April 9 following an application by the council to the county court.

Wandsworth’s director of housing and community services Brian Reilly said:
“This was an absolutely shocking catalogue of bad behaviour by Mr Thorne. He subjected his neighbours to totally unacceptable levels of nuisance and disturbance and I have no doubt they will be mightily pleased to see the back of him.”

The Council advises that any council tenant or leaseholder who experiences anti-social behaviour should call their area housing team during normal office hours or the council's overnight emergency response team on (020) 8871 7490.

April 24, 2015