First jailed squatter

News in Brief by PN staff

On 27 September, Alex Haigh, 21, became the first person to be sentenced under a new law that bans squatting in residential properties. Alex was arrested by police on 2 September, the day after section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 came into force. Police battered down the door without first informing the housing association who owned the flat, which had reportedly been empty for a year.