April 19 At 4.15pm I saw gangs of youths aged between 13 and 18 congregating outside [named teenager’s] home. They were all smoking cannabis, throwing stones and they were using bad language. This went on until 10pm. This is a terrible way to live, yobs just running riot. It makes me feel sick and I can’t sleep at night.

April 23 There were gangs outside [two named properties]. They were drinking alcohol, their language was awful, couples were virtually having sex in the street. [Named young girl] was out until all hours of the night, sitting with all the drunks and druggies. Children and adults were also up and down the road all day on a quad bike.

May 1 Gangs outside the homes of [two named teenagers]. They were running riot around the street between these two addresses. The police attended a few times, but the gangs just run away and a little later they come back.

May 6 This night was awful, the same gang running riot, alcohol and drugs involved, back garden used as toilet, [named girl] drinking, shouting and spitting. They climb on people’s property and give them the height of abuse. When the police arrived at one property the tenant took them into the house to hide them.

May 12 The gang were in the street and throwing stones at the houses which back onto Childers Street.

June 1 There were 35 of them in the street, ranging in age from 14 to 23. I saw [named boy] holding a stick, running after a boy and hitting him with it.

June 2 I saw a gangs of about 20 youths, doing whatever they wanted. I left home at 6.30pm and arrived home at 9.45pm, where there was a gang of about 40, male and female, and a man on the floor. He is about 50 years old and has learning difficulties. He uses crutches to walk about. [Named girl] was using her mobile phone to take photographs of the incident. I break down in tears quite a lot now.

June 3 Gangs of youths including [six named teenagers] were all day long smoking cannabis. They also had bottles of brandy and cans of alcohol. [Named teenager] has a motorbike, they were all drunk and riding up and down on this at a very fast speed. Also [named girl] was up and down on her quad bike while her mother watched. The police arrived at 7.15pm to move the gangs on. At 9.45pm I saw [two named females] in the street. They were drunk. I cannot go outside my own home. I feel very intimidated.

June 29 The same gang as usual congregated in Childers Street, drinking, smoking cannabis, displaying their usual bad behaviour. Nothing changes around here. The street is filthy, bottles are smashed, children play out in the street until midnight or later.

June 30 There seemed to be gangs everywhere and young girls drinking all day. I saw [named female] in the street and she was drunk. She is only 13 years old. I was woken at midnight by screaming and shouting. The police had been up and down the street quite a few times that evening. At 2.15am I heard female voices shouting and screaming. I didn’t look out of the window. I felt totally fed up with everything. I felt that if nothing was done I would have a nervous breakdown.

July 26 When I arrived home in the evening there was a party in the street. They were all drunk, lots of children were running around. I felt very threatened. I telephoned the police twice. I didn’t get a very good response so I had to telephone a member of my family to come and stay the night with me. The party went on until midnight.

August 22 I saw gangs everywhere in the street. They were crazy. I think they were under the influence of drugs. At about 11.30pm I head lots of police cars arrive in the street. I saw [three named adult women] and young children belonging to these families outside. When the police were leaving the women clapped and cheered. I cried my eyes out that evening.

August 25 A resident of Childers Street was taken to hospital in an ambulance. I saw lots of youths kicking a football at the ambulance.

September 4 My sister left the house. She walked past [named teenager] and 14 of his friends. They shouted all sort of abusive names at her. I told [named teenager] to grow up. The gang started shouting all sorts of things. One said to my husband: “I’m going to have you both shot.” I felt in fear. I knew something bad was going to happen.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Oh no, Mr Darling: you have failed
• BBC survives dogfight over Kennel Club expose
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone