Tiny bedsit awaits new baby

Toni Littlejohn, due to give birth on Monday week, fears she won't be able to cope alone in the cramped accommodation which is without a bath, kitchen or washing machine.

And to gain access to the Devonshire Road bedsit she will have to struggle up three flights of stairs with her pram.

The 19-year-old was told on Wednesday she has been blacklisted by local housing associations who refuse to house her after an unfortunate saga with a Rother Homes property she occupied in Preston Road three years ago.

Toni, who is not in touch with her parents and was brought up by her aunt, explained: "I'd had a fairly troubled childhood and was given a place of my own in Preston Road when I was 16.

"I admit I wasn't the perfect neighbour because I used to have friends around and people complained about noise. But I was only 16 and it was my first taste of freedom. I was in the process of being evicted and moved away for work in Lincolnshire."

She returned early last year and has since struggled to find permanent accommodation, even since she fell pregnant to an absentee father in April.

Rother District Council placed her in temporary lodgings at Marabou House and she says it's no place to rear a child.

Toni and her baby girl, whom she has already named Saphire-Marie, will share a room with just enough space for a crib and double bed with an adjoining wardrobe-sized toilet/shower room.

Toni added: "The housing officer at Rother told me I've been blacklisted. I think that's very harsh for something that happened three years ago when I was very young.

"I now have a lot of responsibilities and have grown up a lot. Why can't they give me a second chance? People change.

"I didn't think they allowed children to be raised in these conditions in this day and age. It won't be a very pleasant introduction to the world."

Toni's aunt Debbie Knight said: "She's being punished for something that happened a long time ago when she was very young, and a lot of the complaints were disproved at the time.

"It's a poor reflection on society when this can be allowed to happen. And why has it taken seven months for her to find out?

"Several times Rother has found her properties but the associations have looked into her past and said no."