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Woman finds Lithuanian living in shed

He cleared her garden - a frightening experience

We know that some of you were rather sceptical about the shocking tale of Kosovan loftdwellers, so let's see what you make of the strange case of the Lithuanian lorry driver and the Banbury garden shed.

According to the Telegraph, 25-year-old Kelly Dudley first clocked the squatter wearing blue overalls in the overgrown garden of her rented house, and not unreasonably assumed the landlord had sent him round to clear the undergrowth.

However, her "suspicions were aroused" when she saw him coming out of the shed on a Sunday morning, and further investigation revealed he'd made himself right at home with "a large wooden-framed single bed, two televisions, a chest of drawers, a camping stove, pots and pans, a carpet, crockery, bags full of clothes, aftershave, and a shaving mirror".

Dudley said: "It beggars belief. The police came and tried to speak to him but all he could say was his name is John, he'd been there five days and he drives lorries and cranes. I've got no idea how he did it and I've been on maternity leave while he's been there, so he did it right under my nose."

Of her uninvited shed guest, she admitted: "He's cleared my whole garden completely without any tools and once I'd finished being scared I actually felt a bit sorry for him - he's clearly very house-proud, it's been kept very tidy and is probably nicer than some bedsits you can get in Banbury. I put some pot plants out and he even planted them in the garden one day.

"He offered to pay me rent and do my gardening for free if I let him stay there. I've got a six-month-old daughter and I might have considered it if I didn't have her."

Dudley concluded: "It's an amazing, funny story but it's also very frightening."

PC Matt Locke of Banbury police station explained: "We were contacted by a woman who claimed a homeless man was living in her shed. Local PCSOs visited and discovered a bed, television and other personal property had been moved into the shed. Another PC and I attended and interviewed the man, who was totally co-operative. He told us he was a Lithuanian national who had lost his job and became homeless.

"The garden, which has access from the road, was very overgrown and he thought the shed was abandoned, so he moved in, even cleaning up the garden. He hadn't committed any criminal offences, but we asked him to move on and he did so willingly, telling us he was going to pursue ways of returning to his home country." ®

Bootnote

Still unconvinced? The Telegraph has a snap of a shaken Dudley and the shed in question here.

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