A MAN was so opposed to heroin users living in his street he used threats and violence to try to force them to leave the neighbourhood, a court heard yesterday.

Jonathan Bendall, a self-confessed heroin addict, told a jury at Teesside Crown Court that he got "turfed out" of his home by Steven McDonald.

Mr Bendall said Mr McDonald was one of a number of people who came to the back door of his house in Howcroft Avenue, Dormanstown, Middlesbrough, one day in August 1999, where he lived with then girlfriend Nicola Leonard.

Earlier in the day, while the couple were out, a number of windows had been smashed.

He said Mr McDonald and others were calling him a "smackhead" and wanted him out.

The couple spent the night elsewhere, but returned a day or two later.

Mr Bendall told the court: "There was paint everywhere. There was smackhead written on the boards and the house was totally trashed."

Mr Bendall said he believed Mr McDonald to be responsible for the incident.

Another witness, Gavin Taylor, said he had a fight with Mr McDonald after he had found a photograph of Mr Taylor injecting heroin.

Mr Taylor claimed Mr McDonald had confronted him with the pictures and gave him a severe beating. He said Mr McDonald gave him 30 minutes to pack his bags and leave, which he did.

Mr McDonald, 29, of Wilton Avenue, Dormanstown, Middlesbrough, denies the manslaughter of Graeme Dawes in June last year.

He is alleged to have confronted Mr Dawes, who he knew to be suffering from a heart disease, when he suspected him of using heroin, and that the stress of the resulting fight brought on heart failure which killed Mr Dawes.

The trial continues.