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Woman finds squatter living in her shed & tidying her garden
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by Broken Simulacra | July 12, 2008 at 08:24 pm
490 views | 12 Recommendations | 7 comments
A UK woman was rather shocked to find a migrant squatter living in her shed. Kelly Dudley originally assumed the squatter was the landlord's gardener when she first saw him pottering around her messy garden. After seeing him leave the shed on a Sunday morning, she called the police who discovered he had moved in and decorated the place with furniture.
Ms Dudley said: "It beggars belief. The police came and tried to speak to him but all he could say was his name is John, he'd been there five days and he drives lorries and cranes. I've got no idea how he did it and I've been on maternity leave while he's been there, so he did it right under my nose."Of her uninvited shed guest, she admitted: "He's cleared my whole garden completely without any tools and once I'd finished being scared I actually felt a bit sorry for him - he's clearly very house-proud, it's been kept very tidy and is probably nicer than some bedsits you can get in Banbury. I put some pot plants out and he even planted them in the garden one day.
"He offered to pay me rent and do my gardening for free if I let him stay there. I've got a six-month-old daughter and I might have considered it if I didn't have her."
John wasn't charged with any offences and has since complied with the police's request to move on. From photos provided by the Manchester Evening News, it appears he has left several of his possessions behind.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (7)
at 20:37 on July 12th, 2008
Gosh - I would hate to live in a shed, but I had to laugh about the fact that he had decorated it!
at 23:24 on July 12th, 2008
Broken Simulacra, I like this story. It's good stuff.
It is sad ...so many homeless people, and many more to come!
at 23:27 on July 12th, 2008
Broken Simulacra, I like this story. It's good stuff.
What about helping him!?
at 01:52 on July 13th, 2008
If you look closely at the picture that Zichi has kindly provided, you can see there's some leftover carpet or wallpaper decorating the wall next to the bed. It's a pity he seems to have left everything behind.
at 02:31 on July 13th, 2008
Thanks for the feedback. When I think of a shed, one of those manky metal ones full of spiders and rusting tools coming to mind. This one is made of brick and actually looks inhabitable, but maybe that's because John cleaned it up. I like how he planted Kelly's pot plants for her.
I hope he finds a new job and somewhere cheap to live soon. He appears to have a decent work ethic and perhaps his lack of English skills is what's preventing him from finding work (I'm assuming he's a legal migrant as there wasn't any police comment on his visa status).
Unfortunately with housing prices being what they are, he's going to have a tough time. It's a shame he couldn't stay in the shed and then Kelly would've gotten some extra money on the side as well as a potential baby-sitter, security guard and gardener.
at 03:28 on July 13th, 2008
Broken Simulacra, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 03:59 on July 17th, 2008
Ta :)