A POOLE man accused of causing thousands of pounds of damage by contaminating his sheltered housing flat with asbestos says he’d rather face prison than pay a £60 bill.

Poole Housing Partnership (PHP) is charging 62-year-old Richard Freeman for a new lock, fitted to keep him out of his home after he ignored decontamination warnings and broke through an airlock system to retrieve a carrier bag.

PHP say his actions contaminated a corridor and the common room, leaving a hefty £3,766 clean-up bill.

The reason for the airlock was because Mr Freeman ignored earlier requests to vacate his flat, to enable specialised workmen to remove some asbestos panels, and took out the three pieces himself.

He said: “I’ve worked with asbestos all my life so I removed it myself, took it outside to the workmen. They were not wearing protective masks, they just put the asbestos in a bag and said thank you.

“It was afterwards that everything boiled over. Because of this I spent a weekend in bed and breakfast accommodation and have incurred my own costs. There is no way I’m paying this bill, I would rather go to prison than pay up.”

Residents of Cynthia House, in Poole, were asked to stay out of their flats for a few hours earlier this year while workers removed asbestos ahead of a heating system overhaul.

After Mr Freeman removed it himself, staff said his flat needed to be sealed for urgent decontamination work. It was around this point that PHP workers say he broke through the makeshift airlock to grab his bag.

PHP’s Sue Phillips, told him: “We explained that one of the asbestos company’s men could go in in protective clothing and wipe down the item before bringing it out.

“The action of bringing the carrier bag out of your flat, led to contamination of the corridor, the common room and everyone present.”

Workmen then installed a lock on the property until the decontamination was finished.