THE neighbour of a cuckooing victim has spoken about the suffering inflicted by gangs.

The woman, who asked not be named, said she and her elderly neighbour’s lives had become a living nightmare after a drug-dealing gang moved into a neighbouring flat belonging to a young woman.

She said: “Originally it was the girl’s boyfriend who was into drugs. He is the one that invited the gang round in the first place and now he’s been kicked out. There’s three men from London who live there now and they keep the girl drugged up half the time. I don’t think the girl has the keys to the house anymore, they must keep them.”

The woman said that people in the block of flats have to share the same front door and there are often eight different people coming and going at one time.

She said: “The dealers seem to take over from each other. It started off with drug dealing but now there is a small gang that’s taken over. It’s absolutely awful.

“I’m walking in and out of my house and I don’t know who’s going to be fighting or shouting outside.”

The woman said that the gang’s bad behaviour has been gradually escalating and there has been multiple attempts to rob a pensioner who lives below. She said the gang members often use the pensioner’s window ledge to climb into the flats, leaving her terrified.

She said: “It has had a major impact on my quality of life and peace of mind.

“I sometimes take a deep breath and think to myself, ‘when’s it going to kick off?’”

Residents say the police have been collecting evidence on the group’s activities for about a year and supplying the information to the housing association and the police.

This method of drug dealing is named cuckooing after the bird as cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, kicking the other eggs out. Sussex Police have successfully convicted drug dealers involved in cuckooing.

Padodou John, pictured bottom middle, was on the run from police for more than a year.

During that time he took over the home of vulnerable people, often addicts, to use as a base for dealing and a place to hide his drugs. He was jailed for four years.

Another gang were caught using the home of a Hollingdean man as a cuckoo’s nest.

Linsey Lumunye, Chakotai Saunders, Jerome Johns Preye Soroh and Kieren Sakhabuth, also pictured, were jailed for a total of 16 years.

Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell Moyle told The Argus he knew cuckooing was happening in his ward as he had spoken to one of his constituents who felt he was a victim of the crime.

Sussex Police said: “We actively target such drug dealing on a force wide, divisional or district basis wherever it is identified. There have been many examples of successful disruption and convictions of dealers.”