Lecturer suspended after drug dealers used her home as crack den (From Daily Echo)
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Solent University lecturer suspended after drug dealers use her home in Southcliff Road, Southampton
5:53pm Tuesday 29th January 2013 in Crime
By Luke Tugby, Senior reporter
Occupants Kristine and Christopher Lord
A top Southampton lecturer has been suspended after her city home was uncovered as a haven for drug dealers, it has emerged.
Kristine Lord has been banned from leading lessons at Southampton Solent University after police shut down her Southcliff Road property last Friday.
Mrs Lord, who shared the Victorian terraced property with her son, Christopher, was effectively evicted from the home after the home was used as a base for doorstep deals.
As previously reported by the Daily Echo, residents suffered sleepless nights as drug users urinated on their property, threw stones at windows and banged on doors to get their fix.
Other homeowners in the area said the problems had been going on for a year and a half, with “non-stop” dealing taking place.
The home now lies boarded up after magistrates granted permission to close down the crack den as part of Operation Fortress - a two-year police operation aimed at stamping out serious violence related to drug trafficking.
Mrs Lord, 64, said she was “completely shocked” by her neighbours' statements and claimed she had no idea that drug dealing was happening in her home.
But the senior lecturer in entrepreneurship innovation and creativity at the university has been temporarily removed her post, while the police investigation continues.
A spokesperson for Southampton Solent University confirmed that Mrs Lord had been suspended, but refused to answer any further questions.
In a brief statement, the spokesperson said: “Kristine Lord has been suspended from her duties at the University pending the outcome of police enquiries and our own internal investigations.”
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