Brierley Hill death: Residents call for hostel where body found to be closed
People living close to a hostel where a 17-year-old girl was found dead last week have called for the place to be shut down.
Neighbours in Highgate Road, Brierley Hill, have spoken out since the body of a teenage girl was found in a wardrobe wrapped in clingfilm last week.
The hostel, which is two houses split into four flats, provides support for people who have recently left prison and are on probation.
Richard Young, aged 49,who lives in Highgate Road with his wife Jenny, also 49, and their daughter Rhiannon, 17, said: “We were given no notice that the place was going to be a halfway house for ex-offenders.
“Over the years it has caused a lot of problems – we have had drug paraphernalia come over into our garden.
"We’ve stopped using the garden because of it. We hear noises all time of the day and night. We would move but I don’t think we would get a lot for our house because of the halfway house.”
Sobia Iqbal, aged 35 also lives in the road with her husband Asif, 39 and their two children aged eight and 11.
She said: “I’m all for giving people a second chance but the fact is, this place is right by a nursery, just a stone’s throw away from a school and opposite a park.
"I won’t let my 11-year-old son play in the park or go outside on his own. This was a really quiet neighbourhood until they set up this place. It makes you feel scared to be honest.”
The body found at the hostel last week is believed to be that of 17-year-old Megan Louise Bills, from Stourbridge, although formal identification is yet to take place.
Unemployed Ashley Foster, aged 24, appeared before magistrates in Dudley on Monday.
He is accused of preventing the lawful and decent burial of Megan Bills without lawful excuse between April 16 and May 4 this year.
Alan Lunt, strategic director for place for Dudley Council said: “This building is not operated by the council and we have no control over who is placed there by external agencies.
"We have looked into what powers we have to intervene but we have no grounds to close the site down.”
The owner of the property, who did not wish to be named, declined to comment.
