Our hoarder neighbour’s jungle garden has caused a RAT infestation – he calls it a shrine but we had to take action
FAMILIES living next door to a hoarder in a quiet residential street say his filth has caused a RAT infestation.
Neighbours say a burgeoning rat population has spilled over from William Glyn Cross’s property into their gardens and homes.
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They say they regularly see the rats climbing over Mr Cross’s fence and into their properties.
One couple, George and Gill Davies, said the rodent problem is making their lives “a misery”.
But ex-chemistry teacher Mr Cross, 79, who has now been ordered by his local council to clean it up, insists his garden is merely “a shrine to sustainable living”.
Self-confessed hoarder Mr Cross has been ordered by Cardiff Council to clean up his overgrown garden at his bungalow in Thornhill, Cardiff.
Mr Cross, who has lived there for 35 years, is a supporter of environmental group Friends of the Earth, and says he reuses things.
He said: “My philosophy is about making Wales and the whole world happy. People will think I’m very eccentric but it doesn’t matter.”
But his long-suffering neighbours say his “philosophy” is making them ill.
One, Gill Davies, 83, said: “I see rats crawling over his wall into my garden day and night and it’s making me terribly ill.
“The stress of it is making me sick. I really don’t know how much more of this I can take.
“It’s disgusting having rats crawling around the garden and the fear of then getting into the house is making me so anxious.
“I grow apples and potatoes and other food and I guess that’s what they’re coming into my garden for. I see them everywhere.”
She added: “I felt sorry for him and I made him cakes and jam and things and he kept promising to tidy things up.
“But then we found that there were rats coming through and we would see them climbing on the garage roof and we had to call the vermin people.
“To be fair, Glyn did treat the rats with poison but the council still considers the garden is so overgrown and cluttered with rubbish that they will probably keep come back.
“He seems like a lovely old man, but he can’t seem to stop collecting rubbish, he never throws anything away.
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“I put some seed potatoes in the shed and a few days later we found that they had gone – eaten by the rats. We lost apples that way too.
“Now the vermin people have advised we don’t put out feed for the birds because of the rat problem.
“We now realise that this is a bigger problem and we seem powerless to help. I hope someone at Social Services of the council get him some proper help or I fear the problem will never go away.
“It’s beginning to really get us down and starting to affect our mental health now.”
Her husband, retired accountant George, 88, said: “When we bought our house in 2018, we didn’t realise we had a problem.
“But when we realised there was someone living next door we thought it must be squatters.
“But eventually of course we got to know it was where Glyn lived and tried to be friendly and helpful.”
George continued: “In all the time we’ve been here, we never see his rubbish go out to the bin or recycling.”
Mr Cross said he used to work as a chemistry teacher in nearby Aberdare, but sciatica forced him into early retirement.
He said the deaths of his parents shortly afterwards led to his hoarding habit.
“Over a lifetime I’ve collected tons and tons and tons of stuff,” he said.
Last month, the authority took Mr Cross to Cardiff Magistrates Court as it was concerned about the “accumulations” outside his home possibly being a home for rats.
The former teacher was found guilty of failing to comply with a council notice to remove “general rubbish and ground-covering overgrowth”.
He was ordered to pay £400 and clear the garden.
Mr Cross admitted he was “getting the balance wrong” and said he was prepared to reduce the clutter on “my own terms” by hiring people to help him over the coming months.
He added: “I am not proud of being a hoarder. I do need help, it’s become too much for me to control at my age. But I’d rather pay people to help. I don’t want to be bossed around.”
A Cardiff council spokesman said Mr Cross had been given “a significant amount of time” to “remove the build-up of waste and cut back the overgrowth”.
The spokesman added: “Unfortunately, this hasn’t been carried out, so the council has a duty to act due to the rat infestation affecting neighbouring properties.”
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