New Local owner for Earlsdon House
THE new owner of Earlsdon House has plans to redevelop and turn it into "something to be proud of" after successfully concluding its purchase for £180,000 in last week's auction.
The block of flats in Brechin where young Lithuanian woman Jolanta Bledaite was murdered has been bought by a local businessman Sandy Murray, who previously employed Jolanta and the two men responsible for her murder Vita Plytnykas and Aleksandras Skirda, who disposed of her body in a suitcase at Arbroath harbour, and are now serving long-term jail sentences.
Mr Murray, a potato grower who employs a number of Eastern Europeans for his own and other agricultural businesses, is a member of the Gang Members Licensing Authority.
He confirmed his purchase of the seven flats and stressed they would not be migrant worker accommodation.
"The flats are needing a lot of work on them - the stairwells and security doors are in a terrible condition," he said.
"I want to do up the building so it is something to be proud of.
"I am not a callous man. Jolanta was a nice girl and I employed the two guys who murdered her. But demolishing the block is not going to help Brechin.
"Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with it. It was originally built to house key workers at the Coventry Tool and Gauge factory and it would be silly to knock it down.
"I have an architect appointed and we are looking to bring it up to a fairly high standard with possibly some of the flats available to first-time buyers.
"The archway will be blocked off to help make the whole building far more secure."
The building was owned by Magnus Properties, which had Jolanta's flat gutted and redecorated, leaving no trace of what happened.
However, the firm's property leasing side went into administration in August and Earlsdon House was sold at auction last week.
The building, which in recent years housed mostly immigrant workers, has remained empty and some locals have called for it to be razed to the ground to help them blot out what happened.
Angus Provost and local councillor Ruth Leslie Melville said that all options for the future of the house had to be considered and that could include redevelopment.
She said: "We have to move forward. There is no point in dwelling on the past."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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