SIXTIES pop star P. J. Proby is at the centre of a housing row in Evesham after being asked to quit his Vale home.

The veteran singer has been left rocking after denying claims that he left his previous home in the town in a derelict state following a turbulent tenancy.

He said he had originally been given the house, at Kings Road, by tenant Patricia Fraser, who claimed she had sub-let it to him at a monthly rent of £400.

Mrs Fraser, who lives in Southampton, also said the American star - renowned in his heyday for his trouser-splitting stage act - had problems making his rent payments on time.

Mrs Fraser said 62-year-old Texas-born Proby - real name James Marcus Smith - was served with an eviction order after late payments of the £400 monthly rent.

Although the bulk of the arrears had been cleared - after another 60s pop star, Billie Davis intervened - Proby left the house after Mrs Fraser insisted on a £1,000 deposit to renew the let for another year because of the previous payment problems.

Mrs Fraser said she had felt sorry for Proby and took him in. "I knew him through somebody else, but not well," she explained.

Following the issuing of the eviction notice, Mrs Fraser heard nothing from the former pop idol and visited the house last Thursday.

She said she was shocked at what she found.

She claimed light fittings and bathroom taps were missing along with a wash handbasin and furniture.

"I cried my eyes out when I went in," she said. "The property is going to have to be completely refurbished before it's let or rented."

She added that keys had not been returned by the singer and said: "The smell is absolutely unbelievable."

After initial problems last year in collecting the rent, Billie Davis provided a cheque to cover September and October's payments but the arrears continued to mount, she said.

"We came into January this year and we still hadn't received any money," said Mrs Fraser. "My solicitor said 'we can't have this going on any more: we have to give him notice'.

"I wrote to him in January and said unless he paid up, I would issue an eviction order."

Proby, now living at an undisclosed address in Evesham, said of the Kings Road house: "It was fine when I left it. Fans may have gone in and ripped the place to pieces."

He claimed Mrs Fraser threw him out of the house, after originally allowing him to live there: "I had that house on a handshake. There wasn't supposed to be any rent. That was contrary to what our agreement was."

He added: "When all that went haywire, I moved out."