A nuisance neighbour allowed to return home after a conviction for harassment has finally been evicted from his housing association flat.


Police officers accompanied staff from Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP) to force Jeremy Gentle out of his house, in Little Queens Road, Teddington. 


Gentle had been allowed to return to the flat after completing his sentence of nine months behind bars in November last year.


He later appealed and successfully got the jail term reduced to four months.


The judge who sentenced Gentle at Kingston County Court described him as a “thoroughly nasty and unpleasant piece of work”, after hearing how he sent abusive letters to his neighbours.


Andrew Nowakowski, antisocial behaviour adviser at RHP, said: “It is only right that our customers should expect to live in a safe environment. In the rarest of cases, antisocial behaviour can have a devastating impact on a customer’s quality of life.


“We put the needs of our victims first and will always take firm and fair action against an individual wherever required, which in this instance has resulted in a customer being evicted from their home.”


RHP said Gentle would now be deemed intentionally homeless after it evicted him on Tuesday, August 22.


Gentle found himself in trouble in February this year after he breached an injunction that banned him from carrying out antisocial behaviour.


Kingston County Court heard that he crossed a road to speak to his neighbour George Simpson and, tapping on his wrist, told him “time is running out”.


Brendan Mellee, defending, said Gentle denied he threatened Mr Simpson.
But Alastair Redpath-Stevens, representing RHP, said: “He [Mr Simpson] was clearly frightened by what the defendant had done by crossing the road and tapping his wrist.


“My learned friend says it wasn’t a threat to kill, but it was an implicit threat to Mr Simpson that his time was running out.”  


Gentle was homeless for many years before finding a flat with RHP.


The housing association said he would need to contact Richmond Council for support and guidance.