Calls for action to clean up fly tipping hotspot in Dinnington where Leonne Weeks, 16, was stabbed to death

Nearly seven years after Leonne Weeks, aged 16, was found stabbed to death on an alleyway off Victoria Street, Dinnington, residents say the area has once again been blighted by fly-tipping.

Tim Wells, who lives close to the former allotments site, claims he had been calling for action for months before the murder in January 2017.

In the months that followed the murder work began to clear part of the old allotments site and create a community garden.

Mr Wells said: “We are now seven years on and the fences are being broken down and the whole area is looking like a tip again. There are large household items dumped on the allotment along with considerable fly tipping all around the allotments buried under vegetation.

“There is now household waste dumped along the footpath itself. We have had a massive infestation of rats in the past.

“We need a long term solution for the allotment area.

“I think there is a lack of duty of care towards the majority of us. Hasn’t our community learnt anything from the past as well!”

Her death came just months after another teenager was hit over the head in the same alleyway by a masked 'killer clown' assailant.

Mr Wells says he had spoken out about the issues surrounding the area for months before Leonne Weeks was murdered by Shea Peter Heeley who lured his victim to the secluded spot and stabbed her 28 times.

Heeley was ordered to serve at least 24-and-a-half years after admitting the murder.

A spokesman for Rotherham Council said: “Rotherham Council is committed to providing a better environment and we seek to prosecute fly-tippers. The allotments off Victoria Street are privately owned and it is the responsibility of the landowners to clear waste from their site. “We’re currently in the process of taking action against private landowners to clean-up their land. We’re also working through potential evidence from the service road behind Victoria Street with a view to taking legal action against those who have dumped rubbish at this site.”