BLOOD is smeared down the walls, used syringes litter the lobby and the air is thick with the stench of urine.

Yet 23-year-old Ashley Waters has been forced to raise her two young children in this four-year-old block of flats despite her desperate pleas to move.

Landlords Paradigm Housing, which owns the flats in Vintner Road, Abingdon, has admitted other tenants are drugs users, but said residents needed to gather more evidence before they could tackle the problem.

Miss Waters, who is raising her children alone after boyfriend Mark Hapgood died last April, said the appalling conditions caused by some neighbours were so bad it had made her four-year-old son Kaine ill.

In August, her NHS health visitor wrote to Paradigm Housing and Vale of White Horse District Council describing Miss Waters’ plight and urging them to move her to a different property.

But Miss Waters, who also has a seven-month-old daughter Alexis, was told she was not high enough priority to be moved away.

She said: “I would rather live in the Bronx than in this. It would be better for my kids.

“It is awful here, and I believe my children are now at risk. They are already being affected by the anti-social behaviour and there are drugs needles left around the flats.

“At the moment it could not be any worse.”

When the Herald visited the block on Wednesday, we found smashed windows, blood stains on the wall, and the covers broken off electricity meters. The lobby also stank of urine.

Neighbour Gary Chadwick, 37, said: “I have spent a small fortune on joss sticks to take away the stench in the lobby.

“I am sure our mail is being tampered with, and just yesterday, I had to glue the screws into my door handle because someone tried to force it open.

“I have been registered to swap homes for over a year, but no one wants to move in here.”

Abingdon Northcourt district councillor Angela Lawrence (Lib Dem) told the Herald she was “very sympathetic” of Miss Walter’s plight, adding that Paradigm and Thames Valley Police were working to resolve it as soon as possible.

Paradigm’s director of housing operations, David Smith, said: “We are aware of the anti-social behaviour incidents that have been raised at Vintner Road, caused largely by drug-related issues.

“Paradigm is working closely with the local police to provide a solution, however both organisations need the help of the residents in the area to gather sufficient evidence to tackle the problem.”

Inspector Ian Money, of Thames Valley Police, said: “We are aware of the issues some residents have reported with anti-social behaviour in Vintner Road, and have been liaising closely with both social services and the housing association which owns the property.

“Due to the unique circumstances of this case, I wish to reassure the local community that this is an isolated matter which we are working with our partners to resolve.”