A WOMAN blamed for bringing “chaos and disorder” into a Rosebery Street flat which became a den full of drug abuse and sex work has been evicted.

Drug users, sex workers, and drug dealers linked to county lines operations had used the council flat on Rosebery Street for several months at all hours of the day and night.

Wiltshire Police applied for a three-month partial closure order for the property after visiting the flat numerous times and finding Class A drug paraphernalia and other evidence of criminal behaviour.

Kerry McLane, 46, moved into the property at the start of the year after befriending 69-year-old Andrew Dorman at a breakfast club where he worked.

While being questioned by police barrister Tom Sowman, Mr Dorman agreed that he had lived a quiet life in the flat for 11 years before Miss McLane entered it.

He admitted that ladies from Manchester Road carried out their business from his residence and that he’d see people he didn’t know inside and outside the property, but denied seeing any drug dealing or use there.

Mr Sowman asked: “Do you see the coincidence that the moment you met her, all this trouble at your flat started?

“It couldn’t have been nice for you to be exposed to this chaos and disorder. It’s also serious for the neighbours.

“Their lives have been turned upside down over the last 10 months.”

In a statement, one neighbour said he “no longer feels safe in his own home” and his “wife is scared to walk to work” after men by the property threatened to assault him and a sex worker damaged his gutter after jumping out of one of the flat’s windows.

Miss McLane disputed Mr Dorman, claiming that the problems had gone on long before she arrived, that the person described in police reports as causing trouble was someone else, and that she had in fact tried to protect her vulnerable flatmate.

She added: “He had guys in there that attacked him and girls used to go in, rob him, and drug him so he could sleep.

“He can’t remember this, but I’ve stopped that and made sure that people don’t go round there any more.

“The neighbour who complained is an ex-client who I refused to see and he has a vendetta against me.”

Mr Dorman said: “The only reason she’s in the flat is to help me…

“I wanted to help her make sure she had somewhere to stay at night.”

Mr Sowman replied: “That’s admirable, but the police would say that ever since you crossed paths, she got a toehold into your flat, flung open the door and chaos ensued.

“It doesn’t matter what her intentions were, her presence caused the ensuing disorder and she remains a magnet for other people to treat the property however they wish.”

Mr Dorman can stay in his flat for now, but no-one other than him, his landlord, and Swindon Homes maintenance staff may enter it

He has been issued a notice of seeking possession by his landlord for breaking the tenancy agreement, so he will have to move out by December 31.