Oak Tree House residents in Stoke Sub Hamdon are fed up with dirty tenants who they say also have a dangerous dog that bites.

Residents at Oak Tree House, a property owned by the housing association, Abri, are disgusted at a pair of new arrivals.

The new arrivals, a former South Petherton 79-year-old farmer, Arthur Grinter, his girlfriend Emma Ismay, and their dog moved in approximately eight weeks ago.

Residents were first concerned because Grinter in 2019 had been convicted of taking a knife and threatening his wife whilst his girlfriend lived on the farm in a caravan. Whilst Grinter pleaded not guilty in court, they found him guilty of assaulting his wife after listening to evidence of him holding a bread knife above his wife’s head. The court heard from Mrs Grinter that the defendant had moved Miss Ismay into a caravan on their property.

“I found out about a week later that they had been having an affair, and we separated but still lived together at that point,” she said.

“On that day, he came back to the house and was moaning that me and our daughter had a light on and saying that he had a big electric bill.

“He then helped me wash the dishes and pushed my stomach up against the sink with his body and was still moaning about the electricity.

“I told him why I should have to pay for it when his girlfriend is not paying anything at all while staying on our land.

“He then turned violently, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bread knife, and he said to me, “I’ve f***ing had enough of you lot”.

Now it appears residents at Oak Tree House have too.

One resident said yesterday how he lives at Oak Tree House and said:

‘Over the last couple of months, we have had a man move in from South Petherton after he raised a knife to his wife, not long after his so-called lady friend moved in too.

‘They absolutely stink and have even been refused travel on the bus because they smell so much.

‘The lady friend turns up one day with a Neapolitan mastiff dog which is the size it is and has pulled them over several times.

‘This dog has tried to bite four people I know of, and it bit a health worker that went to the man’s aid after the dog pulled him over.

The resident then goes on to explain:

‘The incident was reported to the police, although they haven’t done anything about it; whilst over one hundred complaints were made to Abri, they also have done nothing.

‘Now, today was the final straw, and that is why we have turned to the media; this dirty couple used the communal washing machine as all tenants here do; they washed the dog’s bed and blankets and covered them and left the washing machine and floor covered in the dog’s excrement – it’s totally disgusting and a health hazard as you can clearly see.

‘Abri allow this? -it’s just not on; we have a convicted knife man here and his ‘lady friend’ who totally stink the building out whilst a dangerous dog roams the property trying to bite the other tenants’ he finished.

Meanwhile, Donna Avery took to social media to explain:

‘They are my direct neighbours, this is far more than filth, and they deny the fact they have a dangerous dog that’s bitten others; my son can’t even play in the front garden as they take the dog there to go to the toilet or obviously in their flat itself.’

‘Why is nothing being done?’

Global247news attempted to call Abri, the concerned housing association, this morning regarding the dangerous dog and the apparent health hazard but has not received a response.

Currently, it appears Abri, after receiving more than a hundred complaints, is not too concerned about the welfare of their tenants despite their slogan of creating communities and empowering lives!

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