Episode 4 Neighbourhood Watched

An estimated one in six people in Britain live in social housing.

And in the current economic climate, the waiting lists are growing every week.

For every person you make happy,

there's probably going to be three or four times as many who are disappointed.

-Britain's housing officers are on the front line.

-Janette, can you let me in?

It's just like nothing like you've ever smelt before.

They deal with over 11 million tenants day in, day out.

-I don't believe you've let him out!

-Most are good tenants.

But a few risk everything with their antisocial behaviour.

His tenancy is on a knife-edge.

If they want to try and take it, they'll have to take it with me on it.

Eviction is the last thing that we want to do.

And we've got to do it for the sake of the community.

Every week there's a different set of problems.

The information this morning from the caretaker

was that he hasn't been seen for around four weeks.

It's the first dead body I've had, so an insight for me as well, really.

They've been in such distress from race hate abuse

and screaming obscenities at them.

It's clearly targeting that garden.

It just seems to be growing,

the amount of tubs that we've got in the kitchen.

It's like a Japanese concept to achieve a Zen atmosphere, Zen effect.

In another six months, it's going to be up to the window sills.

27-year-old Cat Towl has only been a housing officer for two years.

She looks after nearly 1,000 properties in Salford, west of Manchester.

And most of them are flats.

Cat's been called out to an emergency in one of her high-rise blocks,

where over half the residents live on their own.

-Hello, Catherine from City West, hi.

-Hi, I'm Rob, this is Phil, my partner.

-Who have you received the call from this morning?

-We're from the Coroner's Service.

OK, if we head up to the sixth then and I can let you know...

what's gone on this morning.

I received a call from the caretaker, um, to advise that there was a smell coming from um,

one of the floors in the high rise,

and the police have put the door through and advised us that they have, er, recovered a dead body.

It's been confirmed by paramedics,

so I presume the cause now comes to yourselves.

Yes, to effect a removal.

It's the first dead body I've had, so an insight for me as well, really.

LIFT: 'Mind the doors.'

-The information that we got is that we're going to need extra men.

-Right.

We've no idea what we're going to find, until we get there...

-What would, what would that suggest?

-It could be a large person. It could be decomposed.

-Yeah.

-It could be breaking up,

so there could be quite a lot of issues we may have to deal with.

They did advise me that they felt that the body had been in there for a number of weeks

and was very badly decomposed. Is that why you need more people to help you to remove the body?

It may be, it may be, but maybe not. It depends, cos we just act on the scant information.

And we can't tell what we need till we get on site and do our own risk assessment.

OK, I think I'll wait here and I'll catch up with you.

-Thank you.

-I'll get you some feedback later.

He's badly decomposed.

So he's got to go into a body bag

and then he has to go into another bag,

so we can actually manage him down to our ambulance,

-and then take him from there.

-OK.

So we've just got to go in there and put disaster suits on.

-So you'll be in all white...

-Disposable suit, yeah.

Yeah, just like you see on the TV.

All Cat knows at the moment is that the flat was rented by a man

called John Leigh.

And that he is probably the deceased.

Before I came out to the flat, I did a background check on our systems in the office.

He's been a tenant with us since 1988, um,

and I checked the date of birth just to see

if that could help with identifying the body.

Um, the gentleman's 65 years old, um, I'd imagine that's why CID come out

and do the investigations and make sure there's nothing untoward.

I don't know what it smells like. It's just like nothing like you've ever smelt before.

I'm not particularly looking forward to going into the property

once the police have handed back to us.

I'm sure you can see some of the flies that have filled the communal areas now the doors are open.

-So you're going to follow us?

-Yeah.

-We'll just close the flat up then?

-Yeah.

It's been four weeks since Mr Leigh was last seen.

And one of Cat's first jobs will be to try and find any relatives.

Obviously with it being the first death that I've come across, it's quite upsetting.

One of the things that's upsetting me is that

somebody's lived so closely to other people, living in high rise, um,

it is shared, it is communal living and it's thrown me, I think,

to realise that these people still live very private and separate lives.

It makes me wonder what I would be like with my neighbours

if I thought I hadn't seen my neighbour for four weeks.

I don't know whether I would just ignore that.

Whether they're housed in a high-rise flat,

a maisonette or a family home,

those that make it to the top of the social housing list

rarely get to choose their neighbours.

On a pre-war estate west of Manchester,

one new family from Poland are having problems being accepted.

For the last two months,

they've been the victims of a hate campaign by a gang of local youths.

This is the second time the family have been victimised.

Jill Swann-Hunter is their housing officer.

She took on their case after they were moved off their last estate.

They subjected them to a horrific and quite long attack -

both physically and mentally.

They...they threw lit paper through the letterbox.

They er, taunted them, they threw eggs at the house.

They, er, surrounded the car with our Polish father in,

and threw bottles at it, taunting him, of the nature, "I'm going to kill you."

The family were forced to flee in the middle of the night

and were re-housed in a new area.

Dad Tomas had hoped this move would be a new start.

But with new attacks starting up, he has gone to the extraordinary measure

of installing six of his own CCTV cameras.

Because they're very dangerous situation,

four camera on the front and the two cameras on the back.

Now I'm seeing everything, now I'm recording everything.

This new spate of attacks are particularly worrying.

It's exhibiting the symptoms of what happened last time.

We have to look at it immediately with the attitude

of zero tolerance to these actions.

To nip them in the bud and ensure that the family

are able to continue their lives without fear.

-Hello. Eva. Can we come in?

-Yes, of course.

-Thank you.

You're welcome.

-Are we in here today?

-Hi.

-Hi, Tomas, OK?

-Yeah, all right.

OK, well, I've e-mailed the police.

-Yeah.

-I'm just waiting for them to get back to me.

Obviously you do have the fireworks coming in,

you've had quite a few incidences, haven't you,

where the fireworks have come in via the front and also your back garden.

So you think that they feel that they are doing it because you can't retaliate.

-Attack.

-What's she's sure about.

-Yeah.

-And they think they can do anything cos they know they're not going to get done for that.

-Yeah.

The problem, as you both are aware, is that your CCTV cameras

have picked up who they are,

but it's in the dark and they have hoods on.

-Yeah, that's why.

-So positive identification is very difficult.

Um, do you think that it is deliberately targeting

the family because you aren't from England?

-Yeah.

-Right, OK.

It's terrible that people still...

We're not ready to move again, we don't want to

cos we're not going to run away for ages, all our lives.

We just want to, to sit down and have a normal life.

More than 20,000 over-65-year-olds

die alone in England every year.

It's an issue housing associations can't ignore.

It's been two weeks since John Leigh's body was discovered.

The purpose of today is to look at what actually happened

and is there any way in which we could have noticed that that he'd died earlier.

So far, the housing association haven't found a next of kin.

And today they are carrying out an internal investigation.

So currently what we've got is in January, that was the last known contact on the 19th.

So is there anything else that happened?

Yeah, then between the week beginning the 24th October

and ending the 28th, um,

CCTV was installed

which would have meant the caretaker was allowed access.

So was he on our list of priority customers to visit for current tenancy visits, then?

-Was he identified?

-Yes,

um, he is one that hasn't yet had the access.

-But we'd attempted visits, presumably.

-Yes.

Is there anything else that we need to put as an action?

I think that we need to be looking to encourage neighbours or

staff or anyone who thinks something is unusual to be advising us.

And if we recognise that we've not managed to contact someone

through that whole chain of formal processes,

the chances are they're vulnerable, they require support and they haven't got it.

It's an opportunity to see whether there was something that we missed,

whether anything should have been picked up.

Well, thank you very much, everybody. Thank you, really appreciate your input.

It's also important towards ensuring that things like this don't happen

and there is always a degree of contact with our customers,

particularly the ones that are vulnerable and the ones that live alone.

When somebody rents a home from us,

it is their home, they're free to come and go as they will.

We want to engage with our customers and want them

to be involved with us.

But it's up to them whether they choose to do that or not.

And for us, it's a balancing act between

engaging with our customers and making sure that they are safe,

and invading their privacy.

Mum of two Sarah Chilton has been a housing officer for the last 11 years

in one of Greater Manchester's biggest housing associations.

She looks after over 300 homes in the remote rural area of Mossley.

She's been called out to one of her estates to investigate

a suspected case of fraudulent activity.

We're going to a property where we received reports that

the tenant wasn't living at the property any more, and was possibly living in Manchester.

We have to go and check that the property is still furnished

and there is evidence to suggest that he is still living there.

Some people will use the property um, for benefit purposes, um,

and claim from that property.

Um, and then just not live there.

Sarah and her assistant Matthew have arranged to visit the tenant.

Hello. You all right?

The reason that I've had to come today

is because, um, we got reports that you wasn't living at this property, OK...

and that you was living somewhere in Manchester. Are you staying with friends or anything?

Er, because it's easier to get... jobs near the city.

Right, that's fine. Are you working at the moment?

Um...

No more.

So, obviously there's no furniture.

There's no belongings as such, here, is there?

If you know what I mean - it's all rubbish, in't it, really?

Er...

Do you mind if I just have a quick look in the kitchen?

Yeah, have you not got a fridge?

Um, not yet.

What do you do to store your food items in?

Er, normally...er, I eat out.

You eat out a lot? And you've got your microwave.

-Yeah.

-All right, OK. Um, right.

Of course the rubbish thing, you know...

Right, the rubbish is easily dealt with.

Are you not having your heating on at all?

Um, not for the moment.

-So you've capped your gas meter off?

-Yes.

Is this to keep your feet dry, these bags on your feet?

-Sort of like a...

-A waterproof thing?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, OK. Thanks.

-Is this your bed?

-Er, yeah.

So where's, like, your bedding and things that you use to keep warm,

where's your bedding and your duvet and things like that?

-Er, blankets there, but er, I just...

-Well, they're still in the wrappers.

What are you using to keep warm at night when you sleep here?

That's all - just the blanket and...

-The lack of furniture...

-Yeah.

-And the way that you're living...

-Yeah.

..Indicates to me that you may not be staying here on a permanent basis.

Um, I am staying here.

I'm a bit concerned if you are staying here in these conditions.

You've got no heating to keep you warm at night,

so it can't be very pleasant staying here in these conditions...

-Uh-huh.

-..for you.

-I think what we're going to have to do...

-Yeah.

-..is come and see you on a regular basis.

-All right.

-OK.

I wasn't expecting to find this, to be honest, when I got here.

As part of your tenancy conditions,

it's not acceptable to keep your property in this condition, OK?

-Definite.

-So you, you're in breach of your tenancy

by allowing it to accumulate this much rubbish in your property, OK?

It's a bit of a can of worms for me

now it's a bit half and half when he's living there

and the flat's full of rubbish. So, I don't know at this stage, really.

It's, it's a difficult one to call on this one.

It's been two months since John Leigh's body was discovered.

But despite efforts from Cat, the police and the Coroner,

there's still no sign of any relatives.

I'm on my way to Cawdor House,

the keys have just been received in our office,

been released from the police.

It's my first opportunity for myself to go into the property.

So perhaps we might be able to, you know, discover any items

that are in there that may lead us to a next of kin.

Mr Leigh's tenancy will be officially ended in 28 days' time.

If no family members are found before then,

the property will be cleared out and his belongings will be disposed of.

There's obviously a lot of what appear to be records, vinyls.

Books,

paintings.

A retiring card that's out on the table...

perhaps suggests that it's a recent retirement, really.

Um, I don't honestly know,

but it doesn't appear to be in the same condition as some of the belongings,

in the property. Whether or not he's been having a look at it recently

is something that's quite sad, really.

There are lots of concerns and issues that I feel

I would have been able to maybe help with

or make a bit of a difference about if I'd have known.

I think it's always going to be something hard to deal with,

and everybody deals with it differently.

But it's not one of those deaths where family come in

and the family have notified and the family are there

and they can do the clear-out.

This is me and the police trying to work out as much as we can do.

You can see that there's somebody who's into so many different things -

reading and music and radios, and that would have been the character

that the family would have been able to tell me about.

And I find that sad, as well.

With no clues to any relatives at his flat,

Cat is going back over the archives.

Our systems hold a certain amount of information and when we sign up

our properties, we do get as much information as we can.

However, there's no next of kin unfortunately,

no contact number that we can use

to try and get in contact with a family member.

The records show very little contact between John

and the housing association.

Her only lead is the retirement card. So Cat is also searching

for any information about an employer.

It goes all the way back to 1987.

All of the paperwork that we hold.

Looking through the documentation we've got from when he signed up

for the tenancy, unfortunately there's nothing on here

to say who his employer was.

But it's always good to just use that as, as I say,

another route to try and get next of kin details or to get in contact

with somebody that knew him. But there's nothing on there.

Jill has received footage from the Polish family's CCTV cameras.

And she needs to find out if it matches their statements.

I can marry up the times of her statement

with what we've got on here.

Can just about see now that children are walking across the road,

but they're not doing anything wrong at this stage,

so I just wanted to see if they are the same ones

that occur later on in the tape, actually throwing the fireworks.

There's five there.

They're not very identifiable because of the hoods,

which is where the police have had the problem doing anything about it.

Because they're not very clear.

7:10.

Oh, there you go.

Three youths standing on the canal bank.

We've also heard from another neighbour

that named one of the boys that is regularly seen doing that

down the back of the canal, so we have a name.

It's clearly targeting that particular garden.

The CCTV evidence will be sent to the police

to help confirm the identity of the boys.

But while CCTV is helping the investigation,

the cameras are causing tension in the street.

Directly across the road is neighbour, Debbie.

You know, it is a little bit much.

The cameras look like they're pointing in.

Would you mind if I showed you?

Bearing in mind I only got the blinds up yesterday.

I don't know if you can see.

I mean you've got that that's definitely pointing here.

And there, under the front door.

That's not in their garden, that's right over here.

It feels like you're living in a goldfish bowl. As soon as you walk out the house,

it really, really does my head in, it does. I just felt like, God, me head's going,

so I thought, "Is it me, can they see?"

Anyway, um, so I went and I borrowed these off, er,

off Sammy Fisher from Budget.

And then I gets a letter,

"I've received notification

"you are viewing your neighbour's property with binoculars.

"Your actions however are invasion of privacy

"and I would like to speak to you about it."

Invasion of privacy, with that lot going on(!)

It's estimated that tenancy fraud in social housing

costs the Government around £900 million every year.

Housing officer Sarah has been investigating whether her tenant,

Steven, has been fraudulently using his tenancy.

He hasn't got the usual things that somebody would have, you know -

fridge, cooker, bed - but there is evidence to suggest

that he's living at the property. He's got food there, he's got,

well, could well be a sort of camping-style bed,

but he's got somewhere to sleep and belongings at the property.

And since we visited, we've then been notified

that his benefit is being claimed at the right address.

So we, we have to kind of accept that he is living there.

There's not much more we can do to prove otherwise, really.

Steven was a teacher in Malaysia.

He came to Britain looking for a better future

and has been a tenant with the housing association

for the last two years.

As you can see, um, I haven't got much furnishings.

It's because of the Zen Buddhist concept,

we know about er, meditation, it, sort of like helps you

to clear up your mind.

Wisdom tells me

that if I were to maybe buy a bulky piece of furniture,

I might really regret it, because if things are not that spacious,

I can't look forward to making it the Zen,

to achieve the Zen atmosphere, the Zen effect, you see.

Zen or not, the condition of the flat

is a breach of Steven's tenancy.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

-Can I come in?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Thank you.

Now Sarah has established Steven IS living at the flat,

and not committing benefit fraud,

she'll need to make sure he improves it.

She's using an estate clear-up day to encourage him.

-Are you OK?

-Started, just a bit.

You've sort of separated it.

So you need to get rid of it all today.

-There's one.

-One.

-No, you'll need a few.

-Er, no - just one will be...

-I'll give you a few.

-Er...

Take a few because you've got all the cans in the kitchen as well,

-ain't you?

-Er, I managed to clear some of them.

Big plastic bag. I managed to clear...

-Just get rid of it.

-Right...

Just, just, just clear all your empty cans, all your empty bottles.

-Yeah. Anything you don't want to keep...

-Yeah.

-bag up for me...

-Yeah, no problem.

..and then take it down to the skips.

I think he's quite attached to his rubbish, but it just needs to go,

so I'll, I'll keep coming back

and checking how he's progressing with it.

It's a good thing to recycle.

A bowl or recyclable...

..and microwaveable packagings, er,

definitely it's a good thing to, to reuse them whenever possible.

Some residents can sustain a tenancy quite easily and independently,

and other residents need a little bit of support.

Steven's going to be one that needs

a little bit more support. I'm quite happy to do that,

um, and that's just part of my job.

-Is that enough for now?

-Yeah, that'll do, great - thank you.

I'm just coming to see how you're getting on.

Brilliant, right.

So you've cleared a bit more.

Is this what you're keeping in the middle?

-Er, yeah.

-Right, OK.

-Those are the...

All right, well at least it's a bit, a bit clearer.

-You done anything in the bedroom?

-I haven't done anything much, really.

Right. Um...

..well you see, he needs to sort through it.

Do you want to walk down with me, now?

What are these jars er, what are...

-Er, leave it out.

-Are you keeping them?

Yeah. I'll just throw them in, into my bag.

-That's fine...

-Yeah.

-..if you want to put them in your bag.

You know it might appear that we're being a bit forceful

about a little bit of rubbish in a flat,

but my concern is that if he was left and it wasn't monitored,

then potentially it could be a serious sort of hoarding issue.

He's got nowhere to store papers, he's got nowhere to store anything.

So I think we need to get him a bit more comfortable and then see how he,

how he sort of lives after that.

Jill has been working with the police to track down the youths

targeting the Polish family. And the police think they've found them.

Jill's on her way to the station to question them.

Their parents will also be invited, and so they should be there as well,

so if they don't know what their kids are up to,

then they will after today.

The police can't charge the boys,

as the CCTV evidence is not high enough quality.

But under housing law,

Jill is able to issue them with acceptable behaviour agreements.

OK, City West has brought you here today

because you seem to be part of a gang or part of a group of youths

that are causing problems on the estate. I understand

there was threats to kill the daughter,

allegedly, that came from you?

I didn't threaten to kill, just shouting at her

-and telling her to get out me face.

-Is that all you said?

-Yeah.

-What do you think about all this?

-It's stupid really, isn't it?

-Stupid.

-It shouldn't have happened, what I did.

We don't want to meet you again on an ASBO warning interview,

which will be the next stage.

If the boys don't adhere to the conditions they sign up to,

then they'll be in line for more severe punishments.

It says that you'll not act in an antisocial manner,

intimidate, harass persons,

or not throw fireworks into private or public properties.

Now, do you have any idea why you might be in here today?

Fireworks.

You have been seen on the canal bank

throwing fireworks into people's gardens.

-Why have you done that?

-I don't know.

-You don't know, just seemed like a good idea t the time?

-Hm.

Like that would be a bit of fun?

If that firework was to enter a building with people inside,

you could be arrested for arson with intent to endanger life.

The other offence that we've been notified of is, 3oth of October,

you were seen running up to the door and giving it a hefty thwack

with your foot. That's also not behaviour that's acceptable. OK?

So I'm going to hand you over this, and it just basically says,

you're not going to do certain things and if you do, there's repercussions.

What I will have to do is issue a tenancy warning against your mum,

and if you continue to act in a way which means that we go down the route

of further prevention against you, then she may end up homeless.

We're doing this now to stop it before it gets too far,

before it gets too late to do anything with it.

-Thanks very much.

-Cheers.

-See ya.

-Bye.

What I'm hoping is that those that were represented here today

will cascade it back to those that we've not been able to identify.

That will then lead to the attacks ceasing completely.

Youth antisocial behaviour is quite a big issue on our estates.

It makes people feel unsafe and frightened.

Ultimately should the behaviour continue and be serious enough

they may lose their home. That would be a last resort for us,

because what we want to do is keep communities together

and we want to make sure that those communities are strong and vibrant.

But it's important that people have respect for each other.

I bet your feet are nice and toastie warm today.

Sarah has arranged for Steven to visit a furniture charity

to encourage him to introduce some order into his life.

-This is Steven.

-Hi, Steven, nice to meet you.

He's one of my tenants on Mossley, and he's um,

you've got nothing, basically, have you, Steven?

-Hiya.

-Hello.

And this is all purely donated.

Ideally you, you just wanted maybe like a table?

-Yeah, just, just one table.

-And a...

-Probably.

-And some chairs.

Do you want to consider a bed yet, or are you happy with your...

your camp-style set up?

For the time being, I think a table will do.

Cos at the moment, Steven, you've got nothing, have you? Let's face it.

-You've just got...

-Yeah.

-..a living room shell.

Have you got pots, pans?

Yeah, you've got pots and pans, things like that, haven't you? Do you want a fridge?

Er...

-I think just what I need would be chairs.

-Just chairs.

Let's just go and look at some chairs. We have some tables up here.

There's a little one here, just a small one.

With maybe two chairs like that, if you've got them.

I don't know.

-There is a nice little drop-leaf one if you want that.

-Oh, is there?

A drop-leaf one that folds down?

It's nice, it folds down there, you see and if he has any company...

Do you get how it works? That the two sides come up.

-Save space.

-Yes, space saver.

-OK.

-Would you like to take that?

-Yeah, yeah, I think, er...

-And maybe two chairs if they've got them?

-Yeah, if...

-Do you have two chairs?

-We might have, but they might not match.

-Don't think it matters, does it?

You're not bothered if they don't match, are you?

If it's not a matching pair.

-Do you want to have a look?

-Then just one, maybe.

Oh, Steven, there's some couple of chairs here, they match.

-Yeah.

-I'm now turning into your interior designer, OK?!

If we didn't intervene, we'd have tenants with bags and bags of rubbish

in the property, we'd have children running riot on the estate

when they should be in school. You just wouldn't have a happy community.

You know, we've got to think that we are more than just housing,

and we have got to... we do play a role

where we have to look after people a bit more

and provide a level of support.

Most of the time they will, they will accept it

and engage. But then there's a small percentage

who just will not accept that they need support.

The consequences of tenants not asking for help

are all too apparent in Salford,

where Cat is still searching for answers about John Leigh.

I'm wondering if I can just go over

a few quick questions with you with regards...

She's trying a last line of enquiry before the flat is cleared.

Another call to the Coroner's liaison officer.

To date there's still not been any next of kin

that have come forward to your department?

No.

There has been a burial.

Oh, Wolfgang.

Oh, did he? Do you know when that was, Paul?

So, Wolfgang might be able to tell me where it was and when it was?

Finally, Cat's got a lead.

There's been a funeral and Wolfgang, the former caretaker, attended.

So going to see Wolfgang just to see if we can get more details.

He might be able to advise me of a family member there

or someone with some more information. Hopefully maybe even identify a next of kin.

-Morning. How're you doing, all right?

-How are you?

-Good morning, come in.

-Thank you.

What I'm really hoping for

is that you can tell me that there was a next of kin?

No, there was nobody there, only me on me own,

I never been a funeral like that.

Was there no family members or anybody?

No there was only me there with a bunch of flower,

and then the hearse is come up,

and I expected somebody from the building, the whole building,

we are 58 flats, and surely one should go there with me,

-you know.

-Yeah.

Er, I was heartbroken because was only me there, you know.

-I was really angry to be honest, me dear.

-Yeah.

-You know?

When I was in the property, I'd seen a retirement card.

Hm.

It appeared he had quite a few friends he worked with, and it looked fairly recent.

Do you know when he retired?

-What I think is maybe eight years back where he worked.

-Oh, really?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Three months after the firework attacks started

on the Polish family, Jill is back with news.

We had three boys at the police station, OK?

One was the boy that kicked your door.

SHE TRANSLATES

Other neighbours have also seen him throwing fireworks into gardens.

You mean we not be alone, but we thinking for that moment

-that we only alone and we fighting with...

-You're not.

Neighbours a few doors down also named him.

Thank you, God.

So because of that we could also do the same with him.

And he came in and we sat him down.

You happy now? You don't feel so isolated now that it's not just you.

These youths are silly to not just you, they're silly to other people.

OK? So you've had a bit of help.

I understand, it's...

-I think if everybody be closer don't say nothing.

-No.

Sometimes people do say nothing and they do nothing,

but they suffer as well.

Cross fingers, there will be no more problems from them.

Six weeks after his furniture was delivered,

Sarah is back to see Steven

and there's been a new incident.

Items of food have been thrown from one of the windows

which sounds like Steven's flat.

To have thrown it out of the back window onto the communal area

at the back, and some of it's liquid form,

so it's splattered against other residents' windows.

Can you see on the window sill there, and on the one next to it.

I can't see the ones above.

Obviously, it's not pleasant for the two residents below him

to have food flying past their window. And I think the resident

that complained said, one of the things was a whole swede,

he said he didn't know what it was, but it hit the floor

with a massive bang. He said to me,

"I thought it was a head coming out the window!"

He said this whole swede just splattered on the floor.

Well, there is some things in the bin.

So we'll see what, er, what he says, like.

-Yeah, hello.

-Hello, you all right?

-I'm OK.

-Good.

How you getting on?

Er, not bad.

-I've had a complaint from another resident in the area...

-Right.

That you're throwing food out of the back windows, is that right?

Well, not true, that's not true. The thing is that, um,

sometimes when I buy milk products or dairy products, um...

I can't... I don't have a fridge yet, I can't store them overnight.

It's not fresh. So I put those dairy products at the window ledge.

-To keep cool?

-Are they falling out the window?

-Yes, they've fallen out.

-So, er, but I try not to do that now.

-No. If you can not do that.

Well, when I see out I just have to apologise to them if they...

No, that's fine.

If you see them and you want to apologise, that's up to you.

-Yeah.

-You see all those tubs on your draining board?

-Yeah.

-We don't seem to be getting anywhere, really.

It just, it just seems to be growing, the amount of tubs

that we've got in the kitchen.

Yeah, because of more food that I'm buying.

-So you got some Easter eggs.

-Yeah.

Who are they for? You?

Er, not really, visitors or whoever. Er, do you want some?

No, I don't, thank you. I wasn't hinting.

Right, so, as I've said to you before, I'm going to keep coming back

-to see how you're getting on with things.

-OK.

-But we need to see a difference really, don't we?

-Er, yeah.

Keep on top of the amount of things that are coming into the property

and going out, really.

It seems to have got worse again.

My concern is in another six months, it's going to be

up to the window sills, we'll have to keep monitoring and coming back

and checking on him and giving him encouragement to try and clear

the property a little bit.

But yeah, only time will tell and hopefully

one day, we'll get somewhere with it.

Over the following weeks,

there were some minor incidents on Eva and Tomas's estate.

But after three months, the case was finally closed.

Now starting new life, quiet and nice.

Chill outs, my nerves and, er, you know.

I don't expect hello on the street or "how are you?",

I'm not expect that, really. I don't need that.

Just I want to say leave us alone, that's what I want.

Just leave us alone, that's it.

With all investigations exhausted,

John Leigh's possessions are being disposed of.

It's just quite sad to see somebody's entire life

being taken out of the property. Taken to a landfill.

And disposed of, really.

We do build relationships with these people, they're not just customers,

it's not just a landlord/customer relationship,

it's much more than that.

It does make me want to make sure a little bit more that everyone's OK.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd