Mother of rioter told to plead for her home
A council has softened its stance towards a mother fighting eviction from her home after her son was jailed this week for burglary during the summer’s riots.
Maite de la Calva will be given the chance to meet Wandsworth Council officers to persuade them not to force her and her eight-year-old daughter to leave their council house.
It is a retreat from the local authority’s original insistence that it would push for the ‘strongest possible action’ against the family of Daniel Sartain-Clarke, 18, after issuing an eviction notice last summer before he was even convicted.
Mr Sartain-Clarke admitted burglary after being found in the stockroom of electrical shop Curry’s in Clapham Junction, south London, during the riots. He was sentenced to 11 months in a young offender’s institute on Tuesday.
Wandsworth Council said it would seek assurances from Ms de la Calva at the meeting, which will happen in the next two weeks, that the teen would not re-offend.
A council spokesperson said: ‘If the explanations she gives us aren’t satisfactory then we will make an application for a hearing at the county court.’
While Mr Sartain-Clarke has breached the tenancy agreement, the council would face a number of hurdles such as the crime not being local to the home in convincing a court to evict, according to Ms de la Calva’s legal team.
Emma Norton, representing Ms de la Calva, said she will argue that eviction would contravene article 8 of the Human Rights Act, which protects respect for family life.
Inside Housing will publish its Riot Report, written with the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation, on 10 February.
