Police win bid to close Barnstaple drugs house
At Barnstaple Magistrates' Court on Wednesday Devon and Cornwall Police was granted a closure application for 3 Poltimore Lawn on the Frankmarsh estate, which had become associated with repeated nuisance behaviour.
The closure, the first such in the town and only the second in North Devon and Torridge, came after years of complaints from neighbours and frequent police raids.
The tenant of the house, Jane Robinson, was sent with uniformed officers to gather her belongings and leave the property immediately.
She was thought to be in bed and breakfast accommodation last night. North Devon Homes will board up the property.
Police in Barnstaple said the three-month closure would disrupt the supply and sale of hard drugs in the town and send a message to dealers and users.
David Campbell, counsel for the police, told the court during the civil proceeding that the burden was on the constabulary to show that on the balance of probabilities the closure notice was justified.
During her evidence, Miss Robinson admitted she had been a hard drug-user for 16 years, and had been addicted to heroin and crack cocaine, but was now on methadone.
She denied allowing drug-dealing in her property, despite claims to the contrary by police and neighbours.
Following one recent raid, officers found £1,600 in cash hidden in a cushion, as well as crack cocaine and crack pipes.
Under cross-examination, Miss Robinson was asked about 17 named visitors to her house; she admitted accompanying them to buy drugs, but claimed her home was never used to deal drugs.
Miss Robinson told the court she was not aware of any of her visitors banging on nearby doors, looking for drugs, and she did not accept she had caused serious nuisance in her community.
Her barrister argued that the order application was based on "sweeping generalisations" about Miss Robinson's acquaintances, which were partly based on snobbery, and a closure order was therefore an unnecessarily Draconian way of dealing with her problems.
But David Campbell, counsel for the police, told the court there were 62 pieces of intelligence about drug-dealing at 3 Poltimore Lawn, as well as numerous complaints from neighbours.
He said Miss Robinson had lied when she claimed no drug dealing had happened at her home; he said there was evidence of "streams of visitors at all hours" to her home, by people who were using drugs. And he said a closure order was the only way to stop the nuisance caused to the community.
North Devon Homes had already started eviction proceedings to remove Miss Robinson, who had lived in the house since April 2005.
The magistrates decided to grant the order because they were satisfied 3 Poltimore Lawn had been used in the supply of Class A drugs, that serious nuisance had been associated with the drug supply and there was no workable alternative to an order.
After the decision, PC Anna Fielding, who is responsible for Frankmarsh and nearby areas, said: "This resident has put misery on the local community and this order should spread the message that the use of Class A drugs on any premises is not tolerated."
And neighbourhood beat team leader Sergeant Mark Harper said: "The ripple effect this will have on the wider drugs community will be significant."
● The first application to close a drugs house by police in North Devon and Torridge was for 73 Meddon Street in Bideford, which was closed in the summer after magistrates granted an order.
A "crack house" in Poltimore Lawn, Barnstaple, is to be boarded up.
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