THE FYLDE'S very own Great Uncle Bulgaria could be jailed after pushing council environmental health officers a step too far with his uncontrollable wombling ways.

As reported in The Citizen on May 22, council officials have been unable to locate Dennis Bostock, 66, of Bloomfield Road in order to serve him with legal papers.

He faces eviction after environmental health chiefs secured a court order to sell his semi-detached home to pay clearing costs of £12,000.

A council spokesman said: "Blackpool Council has a responsibility to Mr Bostock's immediate neighbours and also to uphold the environment of that area.

"Having carried out our statutory obligations an order for Mr Bostock's imprisonment was granted by the Crown Court for contempt and that is now a matter for the courts.

"Blackpool Council has an ongoing civil action and have obtained an Order for Sale but are waiting for the High Court Sheriff to take possession."

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

HIS name is topping the council's most wanted list after officials lost track of his wombling activities.

But Blackpool's very own Great Uncle Bulgaria -- Dennis Bostock, of Bloomfield Road -- has re-surfaced in a bid to explain his unusual litter hoarding activities.

For years the 66-year-old has scoured the resorts rubbish bags searching for items such as unwanted furniture, discarded clothing, household items to fill his semi-detached home.

When he's not underground, overground wombling free, the quietly-spoken Dennis likes to relax at home perusing his mound of collectables and -- despite various court orders banning him from doing so -- planning where to put his next stash of 'goods'.

But, as The Citizen revealed on February 27, he now faces eviction after environmental health officers were granted a court order to sell his semi-detached house to pay council clearing costs of almost £12,000.

He could also face prosecution after breaching a High Court injunction prohibiting him from collecting any more cast-offs.

Dennis said: "For years I've been hounded in my own home by the council. It seems as though I'm never going to be left to just get on with my life in peace.

"Obviously people may think I'm strange for what I do but I don't care. Everybody has their own little eccentricities and mine is my collection.

"I don't have sex, drink or take drugs. All I want to do is keep myself to myself and get on with my life without bothering people.

"Every time the environmental health chaps come along they leave my home absolutely empty. I've lost count of the clothes, trinkets and keepsakes that have been taken over the years.

"And now, at pensionable age, I'm facing life on the streets.

"It's astounding that, with all the problems being faced by the town's residents, they waste so much time and effort picking on a pensioner for having an unusual hobby."

Dennis first moved to the resort seven years ago, but Blackpool is not the only place where his wombling pastime has got him into serious trouble.

While living in his native Runcorn, in Cheshire, environmental health officers were forced to clear Dennis's house after it became overrun with vermin.

In Kidderminster, in Worcestershire, council chiefs even went as far as having him jailed six times -- once for two years -- for various breaches of court orders prohibiting him from storing junk.

He has undergone psychiatric evaluation in all three towns, but each specialist has been unable to ascertain why Dennis -- who, as a schoolboy, excelled academically -- is so dedicated to his unsavoury hobby.

Dennis claims that he "can't see any harm" in his fascination with litter, despite admitting that his previous homes did attract the attentions of a few uninvited rodent lodgers.

He said: "I don't see what I do as breaking the law. It's not like I'm stealing the things I find.

"They've been thrown away because nobody wants them. I'm doing the council a favour by taking away what they think is rubbish and I can't see any harm in that.

"When I lived in Runcorn there were a few rats and my house in Kidderminster I did have a mouse. But I've been very careful in recent years and there is nothing like that here in Blackpool.

"It might smell a bit, but there are plenty of smelly houses in Blackpool, why pick on mine?"