Drug-growing tenants evicted from Ludlow home
A couple who made thousands of pounds growing drugs in their social housing home in Ludlow have been evicted.
Husband and wife Christopher and Tina Smith have been told to leave their home in Wheeler Road on the town's Sandpits estate after South Shropshire Housing Association obtained a court order permitting eviction on appeal following a lengthy legal battle.
The couple both have convictions for drug offences dating back to 2011, when police unexpectedly found outbuildings full of the plants and confiscated 33 ounces of "skunk" cannabis while visiting the home where they lived with four children.
The Smiths not only grew cannabis at the house, but made "dangerous" alterations to the property and repeatedly breached their tenancy agreement, the social housing provider said. After police made the drugs discovery in July 2011, Christopher Smith was arrested for producing cannabis, for which he received a two-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months.
Tina Smith was also arrested and eventually charged with cultivating the Class B drug in March 2012. She was estimated to have made £51,668 from criminal activity and ordered to pay £12,841 – what she has been judged to be capable of paying – under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The proceeds of crime hearing had been the result of a lengthy investigation.
Housing association officers also inspected the house several times over the past four years and found a number of "significant, unauthorised and dangerous alterations" had been made to the property.
Ann Sutcliffe, executive director for neighbourhoods at Shropshire Housing Group, of which South Shropshire Housing Association is a part, said: "Evicting a tenant from a property is something we fortunately have to do rarely.
"However, possession of illegal substances is a serious criminal offence and this behaviour will not be tolerated."
