Squatter family 'wrecked my home and took my belongings'

A FAMILY of illegal squatters stripped their victim's north London home bare, causing £50,000 of damage, before finally leaving after a year.

Householder Denise Joannides was left in tears when she saw her home of 30 years gutted by the Kosovan family.Pipes were ripped from sinks, walls damaged and marble tiles torn up from the floor of her £30,000 kitchen.

Squatters Samir Gashi, wife Lendita and their four children finally left the £500,000 property in Totteridge on Tuesday, hours before bailiffs were due to arrive. But they took with them a £3,000 sofa, beds, a dining room table, chairs, office furniture, an exercise bike and a sewing machine.

They even took a marble toilet seat and stripped light fittings. Mrs Joannides, 56, a clothes designer, moved out of her home to live in Cyprus when the recession hit. To earn extra money she rented the property to unemployed Gashi and his family for 12 months in January 2009 but when the lease expired they refused to move out.

Even though they were effectively squatting at the property, the family continued to receive £1,150 a month in housing benefit from Barnet council, costing taxpayers £13,800.

Mrs Joannides said: "They lived like animals. Gashi claimed he was skint, unemployed and didn't pay the rent - but he could afford a Sky dish and a removal van to take my belongings."