A 70-year-old man was shocked to find that a 178-house estate was built surrounding his home whilst he was receiving treatment in hospital.
Charlie Wright has lived in the same house his entire life, but was forced to spend nearly a year in hospital following an attack from an intruder.
Last year, a man broke into his home and held a knife to his throat, before striking him three times on the head with a hammer.
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When he finally returned home, he found 178 new dwellings around his house, as reported by The Mirror.
Before that, Wright recalls living with neighbours 20 years ago, before the once-bustling community in Merseyside was transformed into an empty area of wasteland when the council paid each of the other residents a sum of £2,000 to move out of their homes so they could be demolished.
He refused to leave his house, however, and his once mid-terraced four-bedroom house became a detached property, leaving him with no neighbours.
Wright had been content with his decision, however, and lived a peaceful solitary life until the attack occurred.
Speaking to the Liverpool ECHO, Charlie said: "It didn't bother me after they knocked it down. I used to go out every day with my dog, have my mates round.
"I could sit on the step here and foxes would come up and I used to feed them.
"I won't move from here. My family has had this house for 100 years. It was my parents' house and they raised their children here.
"Twenty-odd years ago they began pulling the estate down, and the council offered people £2,000 and a house to move to.
"I just said, 'look this house is not up for sale.'
"Margaret Thatcher gave the ordinary person the right to buy their council house. There's nothing to think about, this house will never be sold.
"The only way anyone will get their hands on this house will be when I'm six feet under."
Devastatingly, the man who had never been on holiday and rarely even left home to cross the Mersey to Liverpool was forced to spend almost a year in hospital and then received treatment at a specialist brain unit.
Speaking of the attack, he said: "It doesn't change the way I feel about living here. I'm never moving out of my house.
"Before this happened, I'd never had so much as a break-in in the 70 years I've lived here.
"Most of the memories are really good ones. I'm quite happy with myself."
Before the council launched the buy-up scheme which saw the complete demolition of the original estate, Charlie was formerly one of the founding members and chairman of the River Streets Community Association Ltd.
The community had pulled together to set up the registered charity to look after the interests of the residents then living on the 600-home council estate known as "River streets" because all the roads were named after British rivers.
Charlie said: "We bid successfully for Government grants to do the streets and houses up, with new windows and doors.
"We had our own sports and social club and did free meals on wheels for the pensioners. Everything was running perfectly."
Charlie might have lost some of the splendid isolation he once had, but now has the opportunity to meet and bond with new neighbours again and form a community.
He continued: "I've gone from living in a terraced house to a detached house with a driveway, so it's paid off for me in the end.
"I've got neighbours now, after 20-odd years of being on my own. It makes me feel safer."
