Drugs den that brought terror is finally closed

It has been the blight of their lives for six long years.

But residents of the Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney can breathe a collective sigh of relief because one of the most notorious crack houses in London has been shut down for good.

More than 20 police officers raided the two-bedroom property in Grovely House and arrested the tenant .

Neighbours had been subjected to a constant stream of addicts queuing up all hours of the day and night for a fix.

However, following a number of complaints from residents, Hackney council and police have used new powers to close down the 100th crack house since January in the borough, and evict the tenant.

The council uses new legislation, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, which gives police powers to shut crack houses for up to six months, allowing no one entry into the property.

The tenant, who was arrested after she was found with a rock of crack cocaine, will never be able to return to the property and any one found there will be arrested.

One resident living in Grovely House, who was too scared to be named, said: "The police have raided that place so many times over the past six years but within a few weeks it was back up and running again. I've had enough and after 18 years I'm moving out because of all the trouble. I'm often woken up in the middle of the night by people who have mistaken my flat for the crack house. But people round here are too scared to complain because of fear of reprisals. Those that have complained have had their windows smashed."

Another resident living on the 1950s estate spoke of her terror of living among crack dealers after her 11-year-old son was offered Class-A drugs. She said: "My son has been hassled dozens of times by dealers."

Her friend said she was scared to go out at night with her two young children. "There are young blokes coming and going 24 hours a day," she said. "They use children on bikes to drop off crack and then they pick it up and go to the flat to smoke or deal to others. One of the estate's few green areas just outside the crack house is littered with syringes and crack pipes."

In the past, residents have been dismayed to find that as soon as one crack house is closed another one opens up, often just yards away. Opposite Grovely House there were at least other three other flats that had been boarded up.

But Hackney's Crackdown project - a partnership between the council and the Met Police - has managed to close down 100 crack houses in the past six months. The unique pilot scheme aims to prevent crack dealers moving back into the flats such as the one in Grovely House.

Once a crack den has been closed down residents are encouraged to ring in anonymously with further information about other drug dens using a dedicated telephone line.

Inspector Tim Evans, in charge of the Crackdown team, said: "This project has a team of dedicated officers who use the new powers to shut crack houses and curb the epidemic of anti-social behaviour and crime in the area."