Mother Of Rioting Teenager Keeps Her Home

Her son was jailed last week for 11 months after admitting burglary

Wandsworth Council had threatened Maite de la Calva as a  direct result of her 18 year old son Daniel Sartain-Clarke, breaking into a Currys store in Clapham Junction during the riots in August last year.

Following a meeting on Thursday with Wandsworth Council, his mother and her daughter will now be allowed to stay at their home in Battersea.  At this meeting Ms de la Calva gave a series of assurances to the council that she would do nothing which interfered with the "convenience" of other residents in the future.

In September last year Ms de la Calva accused Wandsworth Council of being facists  and said her family were being used as scapegoats, that she was not responsible for her son's actions.

A council spokesman said: "The tenant, who was accompanied by a representative from Liberty, gave us a number of specific assurances that have allayed our concerns about any repeat of this criminal behaviour.  She has also given us concrete promises that there will be no further breaches of her tenancy agreement.  We have been promised that we will receive these assurances in writing. Once these are received we will consider this matter formally closed."

Emma Norton, lawyer for Ms de la Calva & a representative of civil rights group Liberty said:
"Wandsworth Council has finally seen sense and we're delighted Maite and her daughter aren't facing a future without a roof over their heads."

She continued: "The appalling and heartless way the authority threatened this innocent family with eviction in the first place still beggars belief"

January 20, 2012