Housing provider Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) has won a legal bid to stop convicted drug dealer Carol Dale returning to the council house where she repeatedly received, handled, and dealt Class A drugs in Newcastle’s West End.
Dale, of Westfield Road in Newcastle, received a seven-year prison sentence for her role in county lines drug dealing that saw large quantities of heroin and cocaine brought onto the streets of the north-east over several years.
YHN manages council tenancies on behalf of Newcastle City Council and pursued legal action on behalf of the local authority to ensure Dale will never be able to return to the address where she carried out her crimes.
This action, says YHN, reassures residents that their community is safe and send a clear message that crime and anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.
Working in partnership with Northumbria Police, Your Homes Newcastle used the evidence presented in the original criminal trial to demonstrate that Dale had been the perpetrator of anti-social behaviour and had contributed to wider social and criminal damage through her role in bringing illegal drugs to the streets of Newcastle.
Dale initially appealed the legal action, but following a lengthy legal process, Your Homes Newcastle was successful in gaining a legal order from Newcastle County Court on 9 August 2022.
The order means Dale will not have any rights to return to the property she previously called home.
‘Prepared to do whatever it takes’
Jen Vinton, group director of Housing at Your Homes Newcastle, said: “One of the core reasons Your Homes Newcastle exists is to provide safe homes and communities for our customers, and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure local neighbourhoods are safe and welcoming places to live.
“We need to be able to provide lots of evidence to support our case to enable us to act against perpetrators, as even with a conviction, the process of legal action can still be complicated and expensive.
“We will not tolerate crime and anti-social behaviour, and by working in partnership with our colleagues at Northumbria Police and Newcastle City Council, we are prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure perpetrators like Carol Dale are not able to continue living in the properties we manage.”
Cabinet member for a Dynamic City Cllr Irim Ali, who is responsible for housing and regulation, said: “I welcome this action by YHN and the council, as I am sure residents do too.
“Everyone has the right to live in a safe and peaceful neighbourhood free of anti-social behaviour, and my heart goes out to all the residents whose lives were affected by criminal activity at that address.
“I’d like to commend Your Homes Newcastle for sticking to the course and achieving this order.
“It sends a strong message that if you use your council house for criminal activity we will seek to take that house away from you.”
Superintendent Jamie Pitt, of Northumbria Police, added: “As a Force, we are determined to do all we can to protect our communities from the corrosive impact illegal drug supply can have.
“Our role is predominantly to disrupt the supply chain, topple the organised criminal groups behind it and help achieve real, long-lasting change in our communities.
“Drug supply is a complex issue, which is why we continue to work with our partners, such as Your Homes Newcastle and the Local Authority as part of Project Adder to help ensure vulnerable drug users are given the support they need, and those involved in criminality, making money from misery are identified and brought to justice.”
Your Homes Newcastle is an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) set up by Newcastle City Council in 2004 to manage and improve council homes and related housing services in Newcastle upon Tyne.
YHN now manages 26,000 City Council properties and around 700 Leazes Homes properties.
Image credit: Zolnierek/Shutterstock
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