TENANT Pamela Baum was stunned when she returned from holiday to find her possessions dumped in black bin bags outside her Oxford home.

She reported landlady Ling Campbell to the city council which prosecuted her, leaving Campbell with a bill of £10,000 for unlawfully evicting one of her tenants.

Campbell, who works for the council's contact centre - helping people with housing problems - was found guilty at Oxford Magistrates' Court of unlawfully evicting unemployed Ms Baum, 50, last month from the three-bedroom property she shared with two others in Foxwell Drive, Headington.

She was locked out and denied access to the property when she called Campbell asking to be let back in.

Ms Baum said: "While I was on holiday, Mrs Campbell packed my possessions into black bin bags and then locked me out of my home by placing her own key in the front door so I could not get in.

"The only reason she had for locking me out illegally was because she wanted to simply do whatever she wanted and thought she could get away with it."

Campbell, 55, whose address is also listed with the courts as Foxwell Drive, was charged under the Protection from Eviction Act for the criminal offence of unlawful eviction, which carries a maximum two-year jail term.

Her trial lasted five-and-a-half days and is estimated to have cost the taxpayer more than £20,000, but when we contacted her, she said she was unaware she had been ordered to pay £10,000 in fine and costs.

Ms Baum added: "She would use her key to enter unannounced at any hour of the day on non-official business.

"We tired of her constant appearances and in May last year, two of us wrote a notice asking the landlord to make an appointment when she needed to enter on unofficial business. She took offence."

It was claimed soon after that incident that Ms Baum and the two other tenants received a month's notice to quit the house.

Campbell was warned about unlawfully evicting tenants by the city council's tenancy relations officer, Jackie Mogridge.

In court, she was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £7,500 costs.

When we called at her home, Campbell declined to be interviewed.

Oxford City Council refused to confirm whether Campbell was still working for the authority.

A spokesman said: "We cannot comment on individual cases."

In law, landlords have to serve their tenants with an official notice to quit if they want them to leave and, if the tenants have still not left, go to court for an eviction order.

City councillor Patrick Murray, executive member for improving housing, said: "I am keen we take on landlords who are not fulfilling their duty.

"We have a duty of care to everyone in our city and, where landlords are failing, we should be taking action. This shows there is no favouritism involved."