CRIME, drug taking and noise disturbances have made the lives of a couple a misery after they found themselves living next to a house as a designated address for people awaiting trial.

Joanna and Danny Bareham, who live in Winchester Road, Colchester, had previously had friendly neighbours, but after one of them moved out in 2020, their next-door property remained empty for a year.

When residents started to move in, however, Mr and Mrs Bareham started to notice disturbances which they say are now affecting them on a daily basis.

Mrs Bareham said: “In the last few months, we’ve had issue after issue.

“We’ve made several phone calls to the police, we’ve been reporting noise disturbances, the constant cannabis smoking, the constant shouting – we didn’t have any of these issues before.”

After weeks of emails and phone calls, the Barehams were told that a charity called Nacro is responsible for the address, and is contracted by the Ministry of Justice to house people who are electronically tagged or have been released on bail pending trial.

But the Barehams complain Nacro has done nothing to assuage their concerns.

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“They listen to us, but nothing changes – they say they will speak to them but it doesn’t get any better.”

Mrs Bareham added the problems have also made it harder to raise their son and work from home.

“I’ve had to cancel my work calls with clients because either there’s fighting and shouting in the background.

“Our son has picked up on it. He’s eight-year-old and he’s not sleeping well – he can hear them shouting, swearing, he recognises the smell of weed now.”

When the concerns were put to Nacro by the Gazette, however, a spokesman said no evidence had been provided of anti-social behaviour or alleged illegal activity.

He said: “We follow up on any evidence provided to us or found; so far, we have found no evidence within the property but will continue to investigate on what we have been given and work with the community to provide a resolution.

“We are working with relevant authorities and have requested support for the community from Essex Police to provide assurance while our investigation and any potential action is ongoing.”