PENSIONER WHO TOOK CANNABIS FIGHTS EVICTION

A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND pensioner who used cannabis to ease the pain of
arthritis has fought off an Appeal Court bid by her landlord to evict
her from her sheltered home.

Nova Batchelor, 61, of Jubilee Close, Ilfracombe, North Devon, suffers
from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoporosis, heart
disease and has previously had two heart attacks.

She faced eviction action after she was handed an 18-month jail term
in May last year at Exeter Crown Court for offences of possessing
cannabis, having about 7.5 grammes of cocaine with intent to supply
and money laundering.

Her landlord, North Devon Homes, argued that it meant she had to go -
but three of the nation's most senior judges yesterday disagreed.

Lady Justice Arden said North Devon Homes had failed to prove that Mrs
Batchelor was a nuisance to her neighbours and the pensioner had sworn
to give up cannabis, even though she found it "useful" in fighting the
pain of her various medical conditions.

Mrs Batchelor also only pleaded guilty to the cocaine offence on the
basis that the drugs had been left at her flat without her permission
just hours before a police raid on her home in September 2005. She
said she "does not agree with such drugs".

Judge Neligan, sitting at Torquay County Court in February this year,
allowed Mrs Batchelor to stay in her home and refused to grant North
Devon Homes a possession order.

Lady Justice Arden, sitting at London's Civil Appeal Court with Lord
Justice Dyson and Lord Justice Wall, yesterday dismissed the
landlord's challenge to that ruling.

Judge Neligan had dismissed North Devon Homes' case that Mrs Batchelor
was guilty of anti-social behaviour and her neighbours were suffering
"annoyance, inconvenience or harassment".

He said the cocaine offence was "at the lower end of the scale" and
observed that, if every cannabis-using tenant was faced with a
possession action, the courts would "inevitably be swamped" with such
cases.

North Devon Homes had argued that Judge Nelligan's ruling sent out an
"erroneous message" that drug-using tenants would be tolerated and
that cannabis use, although criminal, was "not sufficiently serious"
to justify eviction. Mrs Batchelor, the company argued, had been
guilty of "serious misbehaviour" and the decision to let her stay
"drove a coach and horses" through the terms of her tenancy agreement.

But Russell James, for Mrs Batchelor, said she had only ever used
cannabis for medicinal reasons and had stopped using it after the
police raid.

Her medical conditions, quite apart from her wheelchair-bound state,
meant she "clearly requires" her sheltered home and Judge Neligan's
decision to let her stay was an exercise of "good common sense by a
man of the world", he added.

Dismissing North Devon Homes' appeal, Lord Justice Wall said Judge
Neligan had, in his "careful" judgment, "meticulously" weighed up all
the evidence and "was entitled to deal with Mrs Batchelor's
convictions as he did".