The case of Mansfield Ravensdale estate couple Lee Michael Clowes and Laura Marie Waite graphically illustrates how bad matters can sometimes become.

They were evicted a year after moving into a Bilborough Road flat, owing a 'substantial' amount of unpaid rent.

But the real story lies in the graphic pictures of the mess they left behind.

Council officers who entered the property found more than 400 used syringes, blood stains on furniture, walls and floors.

Now a specialist team has had to be hired to clean the property up and make it fit for habitation.

As Coun Heather Henshaw, portfolio holder for housing, says, it is appalling that the decent majority of council tenants who pay their rent on time have been left to foot the bill.

Of course, it is right that the offenders should be named and shamed. But there is an unfortunate downside to the degree of publicity that this particular case is attracting.

The last thing Mansfield needs is the sort of extensive, lurid coverage shown on television bulletins, with references to Ravensdale as a 'Beirut estate'.

This reflects wholly unfairly on the vast majority of decent tenants who live in council properties and now find themselves tarred with the same brush as the evicted couple through no fault of their own.