A great-grandmother who was kicked out of her council flat after a court found drugs had been used and sold there will not face criminal charges.
Pamela Chamberlain, 73, and her grandson were ordered out of their home in Stocking Farm, Leicester, for three months, under a "crack house closure order".
The civil law order was granted by a district judge sitting at Leicester Magistrates' Court six weeks ago.
District Judge John Temperley accepted the police and city council evidence of drug misuse was accurate "on the balance of probability".
However, Mrs Chamberlain and her grandson, 21-year-old Spencer Mottram, have now been told related criminal charges against them have been dropped.
Leicestershire Police told the pair there was insufficient evidence to proceed with their cases. However, Leicester City Council said the move did not affect the original order.
Mrs Chamberlain is expecting to be able to return to her home, in Topcliffe Walk, on Saturday, May 18.
"It's got me baffled," she said. "The police told me we wouldn't need to report to the police station because it had all been dropped. They said there was insufficient evidence against us.
"As far as I know the closure order still holds until the three months are up on May 18. I've said all along I have never entertained hard drugs in my home."
The original hearing at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, February 19, heard evidence from police officers and council housing officials that Mrs Chamberlain and her grandson had ignored warnings about drug-related activity and other anti-social behaviour in and around the flat.
Police said the behaviour of a group of men – said to be Mr Mottram's friends – had left some people in the neighbourhood scared and intimidated.
Mrs Chamberlain, who was unable to secure legal aid and represented herself, told the court evidence presented by police – including heroin and crack cocaine worth £3,500 on the ground next to her kitchen window during a raid in January – was "fabricated".
Police executed a drugs warrant at the flat in early January.
Lists of names and figures which police believed detailed drugs transactions were, in fact, orders for takeaway meals, she claimed. She said two sets of digital scales had only been used for weighing pieces of broken gold jewellery she sold for scrap.
Mrs Chamberlain challenged the police version of events twice during the hearing, saying she would be happy to undergo a lie detector test on the Jeremy Kyle television show.
Following the hearing, she went to the city council to report herself and her grandson as temporarily homeless.
The pair are living in St Matthew's, Leicester.
A Leicestershire Police spokeswoman confirmed the force had decided to drop the charges, before it reached the stage to be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The spokesman said: "We carried out a search warrant at an address in Stocking Farm on January 4.
"A number of people were arrested for drug-related offences and drugs to the value of £3,400 were recovered.
"While there was insufficient evidence to charge any individual with an offence, this does not change the fact that drugs were found on the premises, hence the closure order."
• Read more court and crime news at www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/crime
