Running amoke on rooftops

This is Beaumont Walk, one of the five areas the boys are banned from entering.

Local district councillor Mrs Gill Dawn said the youths and their friends regularly climbed on to the roofs of pensioners’ bungalows after dark and ran across them.

She said this was terrifying for those inside, so much so the housing association that owns them was putting anti-vandal paint on walls.

Mrs Dawn said the clatter made the old folk, many of whom live by themselves, believe they were about to be attacked or burgled.

On the rare occasions the residents went outside to confront the youths they were subjected to a torrent of shouting and swearing.

Mrs Dawn said the communal doors to the properties were often vandalised and items went missing.

“There is a general feeling that if you have a real go at them you don’t know what will happen next,” she said.

“People will ring the police or somebody nearby rather than risk it.

“The youths are usually out most nights after dark on the roof, in gardens, making noise and being intimidating.

“They have made people’s lives very difficult. They are a blooming nuisance. People are scared.”