RESIDENTS in an country village were so sick of their hoarder neighbour they had him EVICTED.
Neighbours in Cam, Gloucestershire claim they suffered a seven-year ordeal living next to messy local Mark Peto.
Mr Peto used his council home garden as a scrapyard until he was finally thrown out last month.
Old cars, washing machines, bikes, wood and even a kitchen sink had littered the tiny back garden in the Cotswolds village.
Kamilla Godlewska, who lives with her partner, Stuart, in the flat above Mr Peto said the situation was so bad scrap would crash into their garden.
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She said: “It was a complete mess when we moved in and it steadily got worse over the years.
“We would come home wondering what else he’d put in the back garden.
“Because these are maisonettes it means that we share a back garden and over time some of his scrap came over into our garden.
"We kept telling him to move it but we would eventually have to throw it back into his garden.
“For years we couldn’t use our garden because of all the scrap. It was becoming not only an eyesore but also a real health hazard with lots of oil drums and flammable liquids being stored there.
“In the end he just had to go. The council did try to encourage him to sort the mess out but in the end he just had too much.
“Finally, they managed to evict him and it means we can use our garden again.”
Another neighbour, Barbara Frost, 61, said: “It just got so out of hand. At first it was just a couple of old cars, but then more and more material started being dumped in the garden.
“You would see him coming back from the local supermarket with big plastic boxes which he would fill with stuff he’d collected.
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“The inside was almost as chaotic as the outside with every room full of his collections.
“He was basically a hoarder whose hobby became an obsession and when it started to affect other people’s lives then something had to be done.
We would come home wondering what else he’d put in the back garden
Kamilla Godlewska
“I think the council were quite understanding at the beginning but eventually they had to act be cause it was getting out of hand.”
Another neighbour, Michael Hardiman, 56, said: “The amount of scrap he had in his backyard was unbelievable.
“I think he even had some stuff which would have been highly sought after by some collectors but he just wouldn’t part with anything.
“There were old cars, bikes, pieces of pipe work and even a kitchen sink. Nothing was too obscure for him to bring home.”
A neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, said he had put off trying to sell his home because of the mess which would have greeted would be buyers.
He said: “I can finally put my house on the market now that this guy has finally been evicted.
“He obviously had a problem but once it started affecting other people’s lives and property then something had to be done. Thankfully now we can get back to leading a normal life.”
Nothing was too obscure for him to bring home
Michael Hardiman
Mr Peto was evicted on March 22 following a hearing at Gloucester County Court on Thursday, February 9 when Stroud District Council (SDC) was granted a Possession Order for the property.
In February 2022 Gloucester County Court was granted a civil injunction order requiring Mr Peto to remove items from the property and garden.
A power of arrest was later added to the order in May 2022 and offensive weapons including axes were found at the property and removed by police.
He refused to clear the outside of the home, so SDC removed more than four tonnes of scrap metal from the rear garden.
Mr Peto was sent to prison in June 2022 after breaching his injunction order by assaulting a council officer.
Cllr Mattie Ross, Chair of Stroud District Council Housing Committee said: “Over a prolonged period, Mark Peto inflicted misery on his neighbours with no thought or concern of his actions on others.
"Whilst we always use eviction as a last resort, the council had no option in this case but to apply to the courts for a warrant.
“This issue was finally resolved for the good of the community thanks to the hard work of all the agencies involved, for which I am very grateful.”
