Home Sweet Home...at last

Priors move into duplex after months of haggling with council

By Richard Torné
THE expat couple forced to live in their converted garage after their home in Vera was bulldozed more than two years ago closed a bitter chapter in their lives this week when they moved into rented accommodation - paid for by the council.

Helen and Len Prior, who have been fighting an acrimonious battle with the authorities for compensation since their villa was pulled down by the Junta in January 2008, managed to raise a smile as they were handed the keys to a new duplex in Vera playa, barely 10 kilometres away from the site of their old home.

Looking visibly relieved, Mrs Prior said: "It's about half the size of our old home and we don't have a garden for our three dogs, so we'll have to do a daily shuttle to feed them

"But it's a nice apartment and we can now relax a bit until a final decision is made over our compensation claims."

The news effectively brings to an end a saga which began in January, when a judge ordered Vera council to re-house the couple in a property similar to the one which had been demolished - or to pay the equivalent in rent - until a final decision over compensation was reached.

Read more in this week's Costa Almeria edition