Defeat of the rebel family

Colin Gordon was dragged from the house after sheriff officers broke in through the backdoor as their colleagues kept him talking at the front door.

The 39-year-old former oil rig worker had vowed to defend the home, and insists he still will, in Pennywell Place, Muirhouse, against any attempt by the council to demolish it.

Mr Gordon's family had lived there for almost 50 years and his mother's ashes are buried in the back garden.

But the council has ordered the bulldozers in to clear 300 homes to make way for a new high school.

Mr Gordon was taken from the house - where he had also dug four-foot spikes into the back lawn - yesterday morning after sheriff officers were blasted with a hose pipe as they tried to carry out the eviction notice.

He was removed after officers and police visited at 8.30am. While two officers knocked at the front door, others climbed over his fence, lifted razor wire from the back lawn and drilled through the lock on his patio doors.

Mr Gordon said he could have stopped them, but realised the time had come to give up this stage of the fight.

His wife Ann and their four children, who are all under nine years old and include a baby, stayed in a bedroom until persuaded to leave just after 11am.

As she left, Mrs Gordon said: "We have no choice but to leave. They have as good as said they will take my kids if we don't go."

Mr Gordon was taken to Drylaw Police Station where he was later charged with assault.

But after his release he vowed to hire a lawyer in order to continue fighting to save the house.

He said he promised his late father he would look after the family home, which his parents bought from the council in 1980. They had lived there since 1958.

Mr Gordon and his family were staying with friends last night after turning down a temporary home offered by the council.

He said: "At the end of the day if I didn't want them to come in I could have stopped them - I knew what I was doing was only delaying tactics but this is not over.

"I had to do the right thing to protect my home. Just before my dad died in 1982 he made me promise to look after my late mum and the house.

"We don't want to leave but the council's belligerent attitude has made things a nightmare.

"We have never been offered a suitable alternative house. My human rights have been violated and I won't accept it."

Around 300 flats and houses in Pennywell are being bulldozed to clear space for a replacement for Craigroyston High School.

Apart from the Gordons, the only other resident who refused to leave was 69-year-old ex-soldier Stanley Lawson who flew the "rebel flag" of the Confederate states of America outside his home and refused to leave.

Mr Lawson was eventually evicted in April after a five-month battle. He inadvertently let sheriff officers in, thinking it was the postman.

A council spokeswoman said: "It is unfortunate that Mr Gordon was not able to accept the offers of housing made to him and his family. We had no alternative."

A Lothian and Borders police spokesman said: "Following an incident that took place at Pennywell Place yesterday morning, a 39-year-old man has been charged with assault."