SCUM LANDLORD
Callous boxer evicts mum of nine and throws all her worldly possessions out of window in the pouring rain .. he even chucks out her precious keepsakes of cot death daughter
A CALLOUS landlord dumped a mum’s belongings in a garden while she was out.
Boxer David Love emptied Donna Newby’s flat, leaving her possessions – including precious keepsakes from her daughter who died as a baby – strewn about like rubbish.
MOTHER-OF-NINE Donna Newby came home to find she had been evicted and her belongings dumped in a garden. Toys, TVs, a sofa, beds and clothes were among the items piled up outside in the rain. Even a memory box with mementoes of her tragic baby daughter had been discarded like a piece of trash. Landlord David Love carried out the eviction with three assistants. A neighbour said he saw Donna’s possessions being hurled 30ft out of the windows of the second-floor flat. He added: “I asked for them to spare the kids’ toys and belongings and I was told to ‘f*** off ’.” The belongings were dumped on Friday in the garden of neighbour who had recently died. The funeral was being held on the same day that Love turned up.
Donna’s family had to search through the piles for items to salvage.
Among them were keepsakes from her daughter Leonnaigh, who passed away at five weeks old from a suspected cot death nearly 16 years ago.
Donna’s daughter Shannon said: “The memory box had things from the hospital in it and clothes. It was to remember Leonnaigh. It was heartbreaking to see the box lying in the garden.”
Donna, 41, had fallen behind on the rent on the flat in Drylaw, Edinburgh, following a bout of depression after the death of her younger sister in May.
On Wednesday, sheriff officers visited the flat, where Donna had lived with her kids for nine years, to serve an eviction notice.
The family said the officers witnessed Love agreeing to let the family stay until yesterday.
But Love, 37, and his helpers went to the flat on Friday and threw everything out.
Shannon added: “Love told my mum a week in advance that she was getting evicted.
“The sheriff officers came on Wednesday morning and he was there. He made an agreement in front of the officers that we had until yesterday to get her stuff out.
“My mum was getting a van and we planned to leave yesterday.
“Then we got a phone call on Friday to say all our things were being stuck in a neighbour’s garden.
“Televisions and my mum’s bed were broken. The couch was ruined because of the rain. A lot of things were ruined.
“There was my daughter’s buggy, clothes, gas canisters, food, toiletries, my mum’s CDs and hi-fi – everything.
“My mum had put her clothes in black bags to move out, but the bags were ripped open and the clothes chucked out the window.”
Shannon, 19, said: “When we got to the flat, Love was smiling away at the window and laughing at my mum.
“My mum was so hurt to see all our possession lying there.”
Donna had been staying in the flat with son, Reece, 16, daughter Tia, 12, Shannon and her partner Shaun, and their one-year-old daughter Amelia.
Last night, Love, who claims to have a seven-figure property portfolio, claimed he had been “cleaning” the four-bedroom flat.
Love charged Donna £850 a month in rent, which was paid through her housing benefit.
Shannon said the rent arrears began in May when Donna missed a job centre appointment following the death of her sister Lesley.
She added: “Mum was really upset because she was so close to Lesley.
“Her housing benefit was stopped as a result of missing the appointment.
“Lesley’s funeral was on the same day as the anniversary of Leonnaigh’s death. With her depression, she tried to take her own life around June.
“Because of her grief, it took six months to get the housing benefit organised again, then she lost her brother in November.
“The council have been paying money back to make up for some of the arrears. My mum said about £2500 was still owed.
“We’ve got no idea why Love threw us out on Friday when we had until yesterday.
“He had some viewings arranged to rent out the flat.
“I think he got fed up and waiting and chucked everything out. Love is not giving my mum her £850 deposit back. He said
there was damage to the flat but there wasn’t.
“My aunt lives nearby so we took some of the stuff to her house and also to my sister’s.”
Shannon, her partner and daughter have been put in emergency accommodation by the city council after reporting themselves homeless.
Donna is staying at her sister’s home.
Love, a boxer of Edinburgh, claimed he was attacked by two men and a woman as he “cleaned out” the flat and he feared he would be “stabbed to death”.
He said: “I am a professional landlord and carry out all of my business in accordance with the law.
“There were previous incidents surrounding this tenancy. The tenant fabricated untrue stories about me.
“I was charged by the police because of this. The charges were dropped as they were found to be untrue.”
Police said officers had been called to a “disturbance” in the street at around 4.15pm on Friday. Two arrests were made.
Adam Lang, of homelessness charity Shelter Scotland, said: “No one should be treated like this after nine years of calling a place home.
“Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, particularly at a time of crisis or personal difficulty in their lives, such as this.
“Anyone struggling to pay their rent should seek help or support early on. If eviction is genuinely unavoidable, it should be done in a way that treats the tenants with respect and dignity.”
Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator for the Scottish Tenants Organisation, said: “This was absolutely disgraceful. It’s a deplorable and uncivilised act by the landlord.”
Stuart Hamilton, a partner with sheriff officers Walker Love, said: “Our officers carried out a proper eviction process on Wednesday.
“Whatever has happened after that is a matter between the former tenant and the landlord.”