'Tenants from hell' leave trail of destruction after being evicted from house

Retired police officer Maureen Madden had her two-bed house in Windle trashed from top to bottom after going to court to evict them

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This is the trail of damage left after 'tenants from hell' were evicted from an ex-policewoman's house.
Retired officer Maureen Madden had her two-bed house in Windle, Merseyside, trashed after going to court to get them booted out.
She has described her "living nightmare" as she faces the ordeal of having to repair the house.
Pictures taken by the Liverpool Echo lay bare the damage - which saw her doors and mirrors smashed, fireplace and wallpaper ripped off and carpet covered with paint.

Damage caused by 'neighbours from hell' — Gross: The sink was left full of rubbish

The kitchen tap was hacked off with a saw, a designer fireplace smashed up and chicken remains were found rotting in the sink.
Ms Madden, 50, has vowed never to let out a property again. She told how the main tenant, a young single mum, was "nice as pie" when she moved in last November.
But police logs obtained by Ms Madden show the police were called a month later, when the tenant's ex-boyfriend was trying to kick her door down.

The officers arrested the man, who they described in their log as "abusive and obstructive".
Two weeks later, the police returned to arrest the man, now back with the tenant, over an "unrelated issue" but he slipped away, their records show.
Inside they found a samurai sword and machete.
By February, Ms Madden wanted the tenants out for not paying the rent and allegedly piling up rubbish outside.
When she went round to drop off a copy of a key, she claimed the teenage daughter yelled a torrent of abuse, as two other men assaulted her dog and threatened to shoot her.

Ms Madden built up £1,500 in legal fees trying to get the tenants evicted - finally getting the judge's approval this month.
Just before they left she went to scout the property for damage and left relieved that the house was in relatively good condition.
But the next day, she returned to find her worst fears had come true - the tenants were finally out, but havoc had been wreaked all over the house.
Ms Madden said she will now begin the slow work of repairing it herself before selling it on.