Couple forced out council tenants

Jonathan Dean, 25, and Rhonda Davis, 33, groomed and intimidated vulnerable council tenants before forcing them out of their properties and setting up home themselves.

The pair were given two-year anti-social behaviour orders by Central Devon Magistrates Court, to keep them out of the city of Exeter.

Devon and Cornwall Police said Dean and Davis "cuckooed" themselves into homes through mental and physical abuse and in one case a tenant was forced to sleep rough under bridges.

Exeter City Council's housing department and police applied for the Asbo after building evidence with a social housing charity.

Magistrates found on March 12 that both defendants had "harassed and intimidated vulnerable people in Exeter over a period of several years".

Steve Warran, head of housing services at Exeter City Council, said: "For too long our most vulnerable tenants have suffered from being harassed and intimidated by this pair. This case confirms we will take firm action against those who blight our communities with their anti social behaviour."

Sergeant Andy Nordqvist from Exeter's neighbourhood policing team said: "This is a fantastic result for vulnerable members of the community in Exeter.

"Both Dean and Davis were preying on vulnerable people subjecting them to intimidation and physical and mental abuse until they cuckooed them from their own homes.

"The Asbo is both proportionate and necessary to protect members of our community from future abuse."