A YEAR ago she feared their cramped home would tear her family apart.

So Kerry Loughnane and her partner Michael Pugh took the only option left to them - squatting in an empty house.

Now, 12 months after being ordered by a judge to leave their temporary accommodation, the family can at last declare: "Home sweet home".

The couple, along with children Kylie, 14, and Mitchell, three, have their own rooms in the council house in Sycamore Road in Shirley Warren.

They had begged the council to move them from their previous two-bedroom maisonette in Walnut Avenue, Millbrook, but were warned it would take up to seven years.

Their plight touched the heart of Millbrook residents when they moved into a bigger home in nearby Windermere Avenue and around 1,000 people signed a petition backing their stance.

Miss Loughnane, 31, said: "Things have improved so much, it's unbelievable.

"Kylie has grown into a real teenager when before she was just a little girl as she didn't have room. And Mitchell has got so much more freedom now. We were just ecstatic when we got the house."

The family was taken to Southampton Crown Court by the city council after refusing to budge.

A judge ruled in favour of the council and the family were forced to move out.

"They gave us 28 days to go but we did it that weekend," said Miss Loughnane. "The whole family were devastated. The day we moved back the boiler blew up and we couldn't get the sofa back in.

"Everyone was so low but we just had to get on with things as families do."

Though they were delighted to get the call to say a home was available in April, there was still work to be done.

"The house was like Beirut, it was not liveable in," said Miss Loughnane.

"But the council really helped us out and we were able to clean things up and it has become our home."

Ward Councillor Paul Russell, who supported the family during their problems and who has since become Cabinet member for housing and homes, said: "It is good to see that they have become settled in their new home and things have worked out.

"I'm particularly pleased that Miss Loughnane has now become actively involved with the National Federation of Tenants' and Residents' Association and regularly attends meetings.

"I am working to ensure there is a quicker turnaround in getting empty homes back into use."