Family ‘huddled around oven for heat’
A mum has told a jury how she and her children were forced to huddle around oven hobs for warmth after her landlords disconnected her boiler.
Anke Angelova was giving evidence at the trial of four people accused of plotting to extort and unlawfully evict 26 tenants in Margate.
Among the other alleged victims is a grandmother who says masked men cut off her electricity and threatened her with violence if she did not leave her rented home.
She and her Army veteran partner fled in fear, leaving behind his coveted war medals, Canterbury Crown Court heard.
Mother and son Sohila Tamiz, 66, and Pedram Tamiz, 47, from Lenham, alongside Kasem El Darrat, 53, and Adam McChesney, 39, – both of Margate – stand accused of executing a campaign of violence, including dousing a tenant in petrol, in a bid to illegally evict the residents.
Taking the stand, Ms Angelova, a Bulgarian national, told of her horror after moving into a one-bedroom flat in Athelstan Road.
She, her children and mother took the property having not seen it, after signing a tenancy agreement and handing over £1,300.
“It was in a very bad condition. There was mould on the walls, the windows were broken and
they couldn’t close properly,” Ms Angelova said, with the help of an interpreter.
“The boiler was not working – we had no heating.”
Ms Angelova said she and her children were forced to use the kitchen stove for warmth, while
they went without heating from November 2020 to January 2021.
When she returned to Bulgaria in July, Olympia Homes letting agents destroyed her bathroom floor, jurors heard.
She said her mother and children were turfed out onto the street and the keys were taken.
On returning to the UK two days later, Pedram promised to pay for a hotel to put up Ms Angelova and her children, the Bulgarian mum explained.
“Were you put up in a hotel?“prosecutor Michael Polak asked.
“No, we had to sleep in the car,” she replied.
Ms Angelova said they soon gained entry to the flat after she placed her child through an open window, who then unlocked the door.
On entering the premises “the flooring was completely destroyed”, she told jurors.
“Apart from destroying the flooring they also stopped the water – they also took away the electricity fob.
“I was in the flat for a month and a half with my children and no electricity.”
Ms Angelova said after Thanet District Council supplied a new pre-payment key, the electricity cut off “four or five times”.
But Pedram’s barrister, David Spens QC, pointed the finger at Ms Angelova’s family for causing damage to the property.
“I’m going to suggest there were so many people living in the flat, it wasn’t properly looked after and became damaged,” he said.
“No, this is not true – I was repairing things in this property,” Ms Angelova replied.
Nicholas Bray, a Thanet District Council housing officer tasked with dealing with anti-social behaviour and unlawful evictions, also gave evidence.
He said after receiving complaints about Olympia Homes he and a colleague rushed to Ms Angelova’s flat last July 28.
Mr Bray said he was greeted by children “who looked like they had been sleeping in a car” and Ms Angelova, who was locked out.
“She was lifting a child up to an open window to gain access,” he said, adding he took photos of the situation.
Mr Bray added clothes were being dried on a gas hob, with electricity and water cut off when he subsequently visited.
He said the bathroom floor was in such disrepair it was difficult “for the family to use the toilet or wash themselves”.
Council CCTV also showed an unidentifiable figure enter the basement to Ms Angelova’s building moments before her flat’s power was shut down, he said.
The offending is said to have taken place over 14 years between 2007 and 2021 involving 10 properties.
The trial continues.