A mother with Stage 4 cancer claims she was left ‘traumatised’ when High Court enforcement officers (HCEO) evicted her from her house – leaving her outside in the cold until the early hours of the morning.
Video footage shows around ten security and enforcement officers surrounding Sheena Williams’ home in Plains Avenue, Maidstone, Kent, while police officers watch on.
The front door was eventually smashed in by the HCEOs as they forced entry into the home the 60-year-old has lived in for nearly three decades.
When MailOnline visited the property on Thursday it was boarded up with a security team patrolling outside.
Sheena, who has metastatic cancer and is confined to a wheelchair, was told the house was being repossessed due to an unpaid tax bill.
High Court enforcement officers (HCEOs) turned up on the mother-of-three’s doorstep at 8am and informed her she needed to leave the property immediately.
Sources have claimed to MailOnline the debt is worth tens of thousands of pounds though Sheena disputes this and claims it is considerably less.
She also claims Maidstone Borough Council transferred the debt into her name and subsequently ‘unlawfully’ made her bankrupt in 2016.
Sheena’s partner of 26 years, former Tovil Parish councillor John Hicks, 48, rang an ambulance over concerns for her health.
The South East Coast Ambulance Service confirmed to MailOnline that paramedics attended an address that day.
Speaking to MailOnline on Thursday at her friend’s home where she has taken refuge, Sheena said: ‘The paramedics had shut the door and the bailiff tried to push it open.
‘They told him I was entitled to privacy but he was up by my bed – I told him to stop looking at me and get round the corner.
‘He was trying to push his way in when I was having an ECG and I had no clothes on.
‘He had no right to be there – none whatsoever. It shouldn’t happen. None of this should be happening like this.
‘They really don’t care if they hurt you. They would’ve dragged me onto to the street naked if they could, to humiliate me.’
Kent Police told MailOnline officers attended the home at around 9.10am on Monday, March 4, to ensure there was no breach of the peace after receiving a report of a disturbance.
The force is said to be satisfied that the eviction was carried out lawfully.
The couple said they had refused to leave their home and sat on the driveway until the early hours of the morning.
But they got so cold John eventually drove them to a family friend’s house, where they have been staying ever since.
Sheena, who served as a councillor on Maidstone Borough Council for three and a half years back in 2006, said: ‘We sat there like fools – I was just in a wheelchair waiting.
‘We were outside until about 4.20am. John managed to get me into his van, which was absolutely excruciating.
‘We were so traumatised.’
Sheena claims the repossession is the result of a 15-year battle with the council over an unpaid council tax bill in John’s name.
She says the bill, which dates to 2009, was paid back by the father-of-three in 2015.
The couple, who have three adult children together, say they have been back and forth to court trying to fight the bankruptcy application.
Sheena said: ‘Maidstone Borough Council had bankrupted me in 2016 and everything escalated from that.’
The couple also believe it was unlawful for the HCEOs to force entry to Sheena’s house, which John has lived in since 2001.
It has been suggested that Sheena was first evicted from the property in 2019, but regained access a couple weeks later.
No HCEOs had since attended her property until the recent eviction this month.
Sheena said: ‘I won’t let them take my house off me. At the end of the day none of it adds up
‘We would like to take this to the Crown Court because it least we would have a jury and it wouldn’t be so secretive.
‘But it’s not just happening to us – there will be lots of people out there that don’t understand their rights.
‘It worries me that they might be doing it to vulnerable elderly people.
‘We want to stop this from happening to somebody else.’
Speaking to MailOnline, Michael Goldstein of insolvency firm RG Insolvency – who was appointed trustees of the debt – says everything which was done was on ‘solid legal ground’.
And he says the situation could have ‘potentially’ been different after claiming Sheena did not at any point provide any documentation to show that she was unwell.
‘We have done absolutely everything absolutely lawfully and absolutely correctly and proper,’ he said.
‘There was nothing more than we could have done to bring a swift and easy resolution to proceedings.’
The property will now be sold with the money going towards paying off the debt.
Maidstone Borough Council refused to comment.
Kent Police refused to comment.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
