Queensway troublemakers hit with bans and evictions

The Chiltern, Malvern, Pennine and Quantock tower blocks have all been targeted by street drinkers and drug dealers in recent years, as well as homeless people gaining entry and sleeping rough in stairwells. 

The communal areas were found to be littered with drug and alcohol paraphernalia, graffiti, and human waste while residents reported being intimidated by people hanging around entrance doors, drug dealing, and prostitution. 

Progress - The operation began in February with regular patrols of the blocks (Image: Essex Police)

Now, a total of 80 troublemakers have been hit with bans from setting foot inside the tower blocks in a bid to restore peace to residents who have been living through “high rise hell”. 

The crackdown, including Essex Police, South Essex Homes and Southend Council, is being led by PC Tony Thomas who is taking a “zero tolerance approach”. 

He said: “This is a multi-agency approach that started with regular patrols by all the partners involved to eject the people who shouldn’t be in there. Anyone we identified who had been there on two occasions or more would be eligible for a Community Protection Warning.

“If they have breached them, we have issued a Community Protection Notice, and if you breach a CPN, you can be arrested. Initially, I was being sent 10-15 images of unwanted visitors a day. That has reduced to two a week.” 

Officers from Southend Community Policing Team with community safety officers, and representatives from South Essex Homes and South Essex Property Services (Image: Essex Police)

So far, 18 troublemakers have been hit with community protection warnings, meaning they are banned from the tower blocks. 

Three more have been issued community protection notices, and will be arrested if they return. 

Twenty others are due to receive bans while another 40 have been told they will be hit with a ban if they return one more time.  

Concern - The blocks have been blighted by graffiti, littering and drug use (Image: Essex Police)

The operation has also executed warrants for drug dealing, leading to Mark Disney receiving a four-year prison sentence. Disney, a drug dealer who supplied cocaine from his flat, was jailed after officers responded to concerns raised by the community.

PC Thomas revealed the operation has also been extended to other areas, with plans for a similar style in Hamlet Court Road.

He added: “We are looking to set an operation up of similar scale in Hamlet Court Road.

“I am a zero-tolerance person, and everyone who lives in these areas is entitled to a quality of life. If they are not getting that, it is up to us to sort it out.

“We are making these areas as antisocial as possible for those who want to commit antisocial behaviour.”