Waterlooville home is boarded up after drug dealers are kicked out
Armed with evidence dealers had taken over the woman’s home in Laburnum Road, Waterlooville, and were using it as a base, police asked magistrates to ban anyone entering it other than her family.
Known as cuckooing, the practice of dealers taking over vulnerable people’s homes – including addicts – sees them set up a base of operations used to run drugs from.
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Hide AdA bench at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court agreed to partially close the Waterlooville home – and now Supt Matthew Reeves hopes this will offer her family and neighbours some relief.
He said: ‘It was a vulnerable lady who lived on her own at the premises and she had been subject to cuckooing - and the impact is not only on her but her neighbours as well, with the anti-social behaviour that goes with the issue.
‘It was causing misery for some of the people that live close to her. So we obtained a closure order from the magistrates’ court which prevents anyone other than the occupant and her immediate family going to that address.
‘And our neighbourhood policing team will be following up with visits there to make sure no-one else is there, and if they are - that will bring immediate relief to the issue at that particular address.
‘That’s something we are looking to expand, particularly the use of partial closure orders - rather than shutting them completely, using them as a respite to the individuals being exploited.’