Ref. 29390-21A MAN branded Mr Nasty by neighbours he drunkenly terrorised has obeyed a court order to leave his sheltered home.

And, in an exclusive interview with the Evening Advertiser, he told how the death of his son in a road accident in 1989 had helped set him on the road to ruin.

At a court hearing on Tuesday, David Lewis, 62, was given 48 hours to quit David Stoddart Gardens, in Gorse Hill. He had breached an earlier injunction, banning him from threatening or abusing other residents, just two days after it was imposed on February 16.

Borough solicitor Francis Maples told Swindon County Court that many fellow residents, some in their 80s and 90s, had been left traumatised by behaviour including verbal threats and sexually-explicit rants.

He racially abused the warden, Kevan Colanis.

He had also repeatedly abused an intercom system, and on one occasion a fellow resident was unable to summon help after a stomach haemorrhage because of it.

Mr Colanis confirmed that Mr Lewis had gone. He had already spoken of his relief and that of the residents, saying: "It is a sad case and we have tried hard to stop it getting to this stage. Our main concern is the 100 other residents. Their peace and security has been compromised."

Mr Maples said: "I understand transport was arranged by the council and Mr Lewis departed relatively amicably."

Mr Maples stressed nobody at the council took any pleasure in what had happened to Mr Lewis but that the authority's aim was to protect other residents, many of them vulnerable.

About half an hour before yesterday's deadline, Mr Lewis left David Stoddart Gardens by taxi and moved to bed and breakfast accommodation in Sheppard Street, found for him by the council.

Mr Lewis, who has no fingers on one hand and is partially sighted, sat on the bed in his small room and drank lager from a can as he spoke to the Evening Advertiser.

He said his plan was to get out of bed and breakfast accommodation and open an antique shop he once had a business selling second-hand goods in Victoria Road. He does not know where he will live when he leaves the bed and breakfast.

But he said: "I had to pack up the shop because my son was killed and it sent me doolally I went on the booze."

Mr Lewis's son, Terry, was 23 when he died in London in 1989. He was struck by a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce after apparently making an error crossing the road.

Mr Lewis said: "He was run over on the Strand and I had to go to London, to St Thomas' Hospital, and it took a week-and-a-half for my son to die."

Within a couple of hours of arriving at his new accommodation, Mr Lewis contacted the Advertiser to say he had left as he found it unsatisfactory.

He said he hoped to spend the night with his daughter before seeking another home this morning.

Barrie Hudson