BROTHERS GRIM
Da Vinci Code rapist’s identical twin faces council house eviction after he puts neighbours through nightmare
THE brother of Da Vinci Code rapist Robert Greens is being booted out of his council house after being condemned as a neighbour from hell.
Identical twin Richard faces eviction from the home he shares
with wife Lee only three miles from the scene of his sibling’s horrific crime.
A sheriff has ordered them to leave after hearing how the couple have been making residents’ lives a misery in Penicuik, Midlothian.
They have turned their three-bedroom semi-detached council house in a quiet street into a haven for drug addicts, a court heard.
Robert Greens is still behind bars for the 2005 rape of a teenager near Rosslyn Chapel. His victim was thrown down an embankment, beaten beyond recognition and left for dead.
Richard, 40, has previously claimed he likes to keep a low profile following the savage crime that shocked Scotland and saw Robert jailed for 10 years.
But neighbours have endured years of late-night shouting, arguing, swearing, cannabis fumes and barking dogs while mysterious visitors make brief visits to the property at all hours.
Now, Richard is facing the wrath of neighbours over his anti-social antics.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that neighbours complained in 2014 of “dogs barking and wailing; shouting; swearing; arguments; heavy foot traffic entering and leaving the property and drug addicts attending at the property”.
Following a police raid in 2015, Richard’s wife Lee was convicted of heroin dealing. However, she was spared jail and given a drugs-testing order.
Since then, the court heard the couple have been “shouting and arguing... cars and vans have repeatedly come to the property late at night and persons have visited the property for a few minutes and left”.
Court documents claim the noise has left a seven-year-old girl next door deprived of sleep and the couple “use cannabis on the property, the smell of which seeps into the adjacent dwelling” through a shared fireplace.
Earlier this year, Lee assaulted a resident who confronted her about the racket and Midlothian Council filed for eviction when the Greens’ continued to ignore warnings about their behaviour. In their defence, they claimed they are now good neighbours and that eviction would prevent them spending time with their five children.
It would also cause them extra stress as both are on methadone to wean themselves off heroin, while Lee suffers from chronic joint pain and her husband from high blood pressure and depression.
Sheriff Thomas Welsh ruled: “Serious drug misuse on the property is unacceptable and must result in eviction.
“The area [is] described as a good mix of social and private housing stock with young families.
“Having particular regard to the impact such drug supplying activity can have on others – especially the neighbours in the street and in the scheme – I consider it reasonable that the tenancy is terminated.”
He added: “I did not believe Richard Greens. He struck me as dishonest. He denied smoking cannabis in the property but his demeanour in my judgment told a different story. He was uncomfortable when cross-examined and challenged. He repeatedly tried to minimise the level of disturbance at the property.”
The Greens – who got legal aid to defend the case – now have until November 10 to pack their things and leave.
A Midlothian Council spokesman said last night: “It is good news for the community affected by this family that the court has granted the order to evict due to their anti-social behaviour.”
Robert Greens was nicknamed the “Da Vinci Code Rapist” after attacking a 19-year-old Dutch student visiting Rosslyn Chapel, which features in the famous thriller by Dan Brown.
He was freed in 2012 after serving only six years and was housed in nearby Dalkeith and then Bonnyrigg. But frightened and furious locals protested outside the properties to force him out of their communities.
Greens was later sent back to jail for breaching a court order designed to stop him reoffending. He was hauled back to prison again last April after breaking his conditions while on home leave.
Richard claims he is a victim and has been beaten up by vigilantes mistaking him for his brother. He was jailed for 50 weeks in 2012 for lashing out at a Hogmanay reveller who called him “Robert”.
In 2012, Richard claimed that Robert had been planning to take over the local cannabis trade and wanted them to become like crime twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray.