Moldgreen man talks of threats at house

Jul 7 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A FORMER soldier says he was forced to flee a Huddersfield house – closed down by Kirklees Council – because of constant hassle.

Craig Wallace, 24, and his friend Thomas Ashton, 23, lived in Church Street, Moldgreen.

The house was last month closed down by Huddersfield Magistrates as council and police used new powers to combat anti-social behaviour.

Mr Wallace and Mr Ashton were banned from entering the property following repeated complaints of anti-social behaviour.

But Mr Wallace, who served six years in the Royal Logistics Corps, yesterday told the Examiner he and his friend had been forced to leave the house about a month before the court order was made.

Mr Wallace, who left the Army to start a family last year, said he and his friend fell in with a bad crowd shortly after moving to the address.

The father-of-one, who has since moved to another part of the country, said the threats then began.

Mr Wallace said four men burst into his house and beat up Mr Ashton in the middle of April.

Shortly after, he and a group in a nearby house were threatened at gunpoint. And not long after Mr Wallace said his friend was shot in the leg with an air rifle.