Marston: My life next door to sex and drugs (From Oxford Mail)

Marston: My life next door to sex and drugs

6:40am Tuesday 20th January 2009 in

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WHEN Richard Hillsdon moved into his rented home in Marston, Oxford, he thought he had arrived in a respectable neighbourhood.

But it turned out he was sandwiched between a brothel on one side and a cannabis factory on the other.

Mr Hillsdon, 42, a freelance IT consultant, spoke to the Oxford Mail following a police raid on a suspected cannabis factory on Sunday afternoon in Cherwell Drive.

Police officers found the remains of a hydroponics factory — but the cannabis had gone.

In a way they were both reasonable neighbours because they kept themselves to themselves and kept the noise down

Richard Hillsdon

They are now hunting the dealers.

Mr Hillsdon told the Oxford Mail last night: “I moved in in November 2007 and about an hour later I realised there was a brothel next door.

“There was a succession of men coming and going, and different scantily-clad women were opening the door.

“On Sunday night, there were police vans outside and one of the officers told me it was a cannabis farm.

“I thought this was respectable neighbourhood when I moved in, but I ended up living in a house between a brothel and a cannabis factory.

“In a way they were both reasonable neighbours because they kept themselves to themselves and kept the noise down.”

Mr Hillsdon said the suspected brothel closed down in November.

He said investigations were carried out at his home in the summer of last year after he reported a strong smell coming from the floorboards.

He added: “There had been some rats in the house and we thought some of them had died under the floorboards.

“The floorboards were pulled up, but nothing was found. It never occurred to anyone there could be a cannabis factory next door.”

Last summer Mr Hillsdon knocked on the door of the house where the hydroponics equipment was found, but no-one answered.

He said: “The only people we ever saw were Chinese student-looking types in their mid-20s.

“Someone connected with the landlord came round recently and asked if we had seen them, because it was the first time they hadn’t paid their rent.

“Apparently they always paid promptly in cash.

“I don’t know what’s worse — living next door to a brothel or a cannabis factory.

“I suppose the cannabis factory because of the harm drugs can do.”

Thames Valley Police spokesman Claire Gourlay said officers discovered the cannabis farm on Sunday afternoon after a tip-off.

She added: “Officers did not find any cannabis plants, but they did find what looks like the remains of a hydroponics factory.

“There was also evidence the electricity had been tampered with.

“So far no-one has been arrested.”

Earlier this month, police said criminal gangs behind a series of cannabis factories in rented homes had been chased out of the city.

Drugs officers said the clampdown against Vietnamese gangs had led to a large reduction in the number of cannabis farms uncovered in Oxford last year.

In 2007, they raided 24 cannabis factories – and drugs worth about £750,000 were seized and destroyed.

But, during the past 12 months, only seven — including the house in Cherwell Drive — have been discovered. The criminals rent homes, change the locks and cause hundreds of pounds in damage by installing insulation, hydroponic lights and complicated water irrigation systems.

They also rewire the electricity.

l Anyone with information is urged to call police on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk