The owner of a property in Sidcup is facing potential prison time after failing to comply with a Community Protection Notice and failing to maintain the property.

Roger Thompson of Admers Wood, Gravesend, was first fined and prosecuted back in October 2022 for failing to maintain the property and has now been fined again for not complying with the initial Community Protection Notice.

Therefore, he received the maximum fine of £2,500 and was also ordered to pay the maximum victim surcharge of £1,000 and all costs.

In total, Thompson will have to pay £4,442.05.

The court also granted a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO).

If Thompson is found guilty of breaching the CBO, he could be sent to prison.

Bexley Council has said that the rear of the property was “completely covered in overgrown vegetation” and that “fences surrounding the property had collapsed” and that the front garden was in “such a bad state” that it was being used as a bin by passers-by.

The notice required him to take steps to maintain the vegetation, back garden, infrastructure and surrounds of the premises to prevent “detriment to the amenity of the area” and “quality of life of others in the locality”.

Bexley Council said Thompson failed to take any steps to comply with this Notice and was again prosecuted and fined the maximum amount, as well as the maximum victim surcharge and told to pay all costs.

Bexley’s Cabinet Member for Place, Cllr Diment said: “I hope that this fine and the Criminal Behaviour Order serve as a warning to other homeowners who leave empty properties to get into this kind of disgusting disrepair.

“If the owner fails to now address these long overdue issues, we won’t hesitate to take further action.”