A NEIGHBOUR has spoken of his living nightmare of residing next door to a Dudley hostel where a teenager’s body was found.

Rich Young, aged 49, told the News he lives in fear of the residents and the goings on at the multi-occupancy property in Highgate Road where the body of 17-year-old Megan Bills from Stourbridge was discovered in a wardrobe wrapped in cling film.

He says arguing and fighting has been commonplace – he even claims to have seen children as young as 10-years-old visiting to ask for crack cocaine.

Residents living nearby voiced objections back in 2007 to the creation of the hostel – which comprises two houses split into four flats and which is home to people who have recently left prison or are on probation.

And Mr Young, who lives close by with his wife Jenny and daughter Rhiannon, said the property has been a hotbed of trouble over the years and something now needs to be done.

He told the News: “We hear swearing, shouting, arguing and fighting at all times of the day. It’s all becoming such a common place.

“We have a lovely garden but we’re scared to use it now because it is full of drug paraphernalia which has been chucked over.

“We have to keep our windows and blinds shut because they are always looking into our house and when we go on holiday we feel we have to hide our suitcases so they can’t see that we’re not going to be in.

“There is a nursery five doors down and a primary school and a park opposite. I’ve heard children of about 10-years-old banging on their door asking ‘where’s my crack cocaine?’ and when I would go out to ask what’s going on, they said ‘he said he was going to give me crack cocaine’.

“It’s disgraceful and disgusting. It’s not right that we have to live in fear because of people living in the house next door.

“Some of our neighbours have had to move out because they have had enough.

“But there would be no point in us trying to move because there is no way we would be able to sell our house. It would have no value in it whatsoever. We could put it up for free and I doubt anyone would take it off us.

“It’s just gone too far and something needs to be looked at.

“You can’t have 12, 13, 14 people with mental health issues all living in a cramped house. They need proper supervision in a centre that is more suited to their needs.”

Residents have agreed the hostel is “not fit for purpose” and said they have approached Dudley Council in a bid to relocate those living at the property elsewhere.

Abdul Wahid, a Highgate Road resident, said: “There’s always people in there fighting and shouting. People are really worried.

“When this plan came forward a few years ago we all rejected it but the council took no notice of the residents and went ahead.”

He added: “I think this place is not fit for purpose. So many people live in there together.”

70-year-old Carole Stanley, who has lived in Highgate Road her entire life, told the News: “We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place because we know they have to go somewhere, but you don’t want them on your doorstep.

“It used to be a lovely road, but over the past 10 years there has been so much trouble with those two houses and the police are up here most days.

“I think everybody was against it [the creation of the hostel], but after what’s happened recently, we’ve just had enough.”

A spokesman for Dudley Council said the authority can do nothing about the situation as the hostel is privately owned.

Alan Lunt, the council’s strategic director for place, said: “This building is not operated by the council and we have no control over who is placed there by external agencies.

“We have looked into what powers we have to intervene but we have no grounds to close the site down.”

Unemployed Ashley Foster, aged 24, appeared at Dudley Magistrates Court accused of preventing the burial of former Ridgewood High School pupil Megan, without lawful excuse, sometime between April 16 and May 4 this year.

Foster, of no fixed address, was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court on June 5.