STREET drinker Karen Bulmer has been kicked out of her council flat, only weeks after a court made a strict banning order in an attempt to control her erratic behaviour.

Last month the Evening Press revealed how the 37-year-old, had become the first person in England and Wales to be banned from stripping in public after a string of indecent incidents.

Now the locks of her Cemetery Road flat have been changed in her absence, after she fell behind on the rent for her home of almost three years.

Meanwhile, police have issued a warrant for her arrest because she failed to answer bail after being arrested for an alleged drunk and disorderly offence.

Officers believe she has fled to Leeds after the publicity surrounding her ban, but they expect her to return to York in the near future.

PC Alison Newbould, who was one of the team of legal experts who organised the ban, said Ms Bulmer had "gone missing", and had a number of outstanding police matters.

She said that she had not been seen recently in the York area, but had no strong links with any other city and was expected to come back.

A City of York Council spokeswoman confirmed that Ms Bulmer was formally evicted from her home on January 17 after a hearing before Judge Wildsmith at York County Court in early December.

A York Police spokesman confirmed that a warrant had been issued for her arrest after she failed to attend Fulford Police Station earlier this month.

The Evening Press revealed before Christmas how a judge imposed a wide-ranging legal ban on Ms Bulmer in an effort to stop her nuisance behaviour.

The criminal antisocial behaviour order specifically banned the unemployed resident from stripping, performing lewd sexual acts or urinating in public.

She was also banned from buying alcohol from pubs and bars in the city for two years and from having any open alcoholic containers in the street. Ms Bulmer also faces further questions over whether she breached the ban in fewer than 48 hours by drinking in public. She was held in custody for several days in December before her release on bail.

At the time of the ban, alcohol support workers welcomed the move. They said it could help force Ms Bulmer to work with them, while homeless workers said help was available for those with long-term problem drinking issues.

Updated: 08:33 Wednesday, January 26, 2005