Linda Walker, 48, confronted a gang of youths whom she believed had been victimising her family for more than a year. Neighbours and residents of Urmston, Manchester, spoke out in support and called for her release. A local newsagent said: “Linda Walker has my utmost respect for what she did because I can understand what would have driven her to do it.

“I have problems with tearaways in my shop. I’m sick and tired of them. I have caught some stealing sweets and drinks from the shelves.”

George Arnold, 80, said: “I think she showed great courage to stand up to the kids.”

Last night politicians said that Ms Walker was let down by the police. Ann Widdecombe, the Conservative MP for Maidstone and Weald, told The Times: “All the time she was trying to get the law to do something about the vandalism, the law was completely ineffectual. But the moment she took the law into her own hands, the law worked. It is the wrong way round. What she did was undeniably wrong, but the police should be more efficient at dealing with anti- social behaviour.”

Ms Walker’s 17-year-old son, Craig, a student nurse, claimed that the family had made 15 complaints to police. “They never turned up,” he said. “They are supposed to be there to protect. When you ring them up and they don’t come, it starts getting to you.

“Mum hadn’t gone out there to hurt anyone. She was just fed up of our house getting vandalised and she wanted to defend her property.”

“Leading up to it we were receiving phone calls targeting me because I’m gay and also because they knew that my Mum is a teacher,” he added.

Other residents called on police to take action against tearaways and to issue more antisocial behaviour orders. Ian Haslam, 77, who lives in the same cul-de-sac as Ms Walker, said: “We are all sorry for what happened to Linda as she seemed to have been the target for these youths’ attention and has now suffered for it.”

Norman Brennan, a spokesman for the Victims of Crime Trust, said that the conviction was “a sad day for the justice system”. He added: “What does it say when a teacher who has got no convictions and is an upstanding member of the community is driven into taking the law into her hands? The justice system failed her and the police failed her because they didn’t respond to the problems.”

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