Gangs of teenage vandals are running riot & have turned our picturesque town into a yobs' playground

Описание: IT’S one of the UK’s oldest boroughs, but Barnstaple is being plagued by a new wave of crime and antisocial behaviour driven by teenage yobs who are “out of control”.

Residents in the picturesque riverside town in North Devon are bracing themselves for the upcoming Easter holidays, fearing these destructive schoolboys and girls will run riot through the High Street and harass local traders.

When The Sun visited this week, distressed locals told how vandalism, brazen drug-dealing and using on the streets and a homeless community taunted by abusive youths are among the list of woes they regularly endure.

In the local park, where street-sleepers have pitched tents in the bushes, a man complained he’d recently had his slashed by a heartless lout.

One shop-owner, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, told how their store windows have been smashed frequently.

“There’s a huge problem with anti-social behaviour in Barnstaple, it’s gone right downhill in the past couple of years,” they said.

“I’ve been called a c*** in the past before I’ve even opened up in the morning. We’ve seen drug deals happening right outside our window and gangs of youths hanging around.

“People from all over the country come here and say, ‘What on earth has happened to Barnstaple?’

“The council don’t do much and the police have lost control of the town.”

Beauty therapist Sophie Mclear, 26, works at the Powder Room off the High Street, which is owned by her mum Katrina.

She told how she chased down a group of kids aged between 11-16 after they smashed up her advertising chalk-board before running off.

Sophie said: “A group of them came past, kicked the chalk-board outside the salon and it went up in the air and smashed on the ground.

“I came out and chased them up the street. When I caught up with them, I tried to reason with them, but children being the children they are nowadays, they weren’t easy to reason with.

“I wanted to ask why they did it and try to get some money back for the sign.

“I chased them around a nearby car park for about 20 minutes and eventually caught up with them. Luckily a member of the public urged them to ‘do the right’ thing and come with me.

“We are a small business, we’re not like Tesco - £150 for a new sign is a big loss for us.

“A community police officer came and took statements.

“The following week the group all walked up and down Holland Walk where the salon is to try to intimidate us, but it didn’t work.”

Read more: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2697215...

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