Exclusive: Wigan borough residents speak of their fears from violent drug gangs

Dealers and couriers have such a grip in the area that some parts are considered no-go zones, it has been claimed.

Householders, too afraid to disclose their identities, say that the police need to do a lot more to crack down on lawlessness in the Butts Bridge area of Leigh and that those who have tried to tackle the issue by confronting the gangs have faced abuse and threats, had vehicles driven at them and a window smashed.

But police say they are stepping up patrols to tackle anti-social behaviour and are also deploying plain clothes officers in a further bid to root it out

A resident and neighbourhood watch officer said: “These are not children. We are talking about people who are 18-plus.

"There are maybe a dozen of them. They have black hoodies, ski masks and ride £5,000 electric bikes. That’s their uniform and kit.

"Some will turn up in a car and drop the drugs off in an area of woodland then others will pick them up and scoot off down the canal bank.

"A friend and I watched this happened and that’s when I was threatened and told he was going to find out where I lived if I grassed on him and he would ‘get the dog’.

"People daren’t go on the canal bank with them around. A lad deliberately rode at me on his scooter and I gave him a shove and he nearly fell in the water.

"This is a nice area in many ways and kids like to play football. But it is also dangerous.

"The gang members blatantly deal drugs from a house in Butt Street. A lady had a brick through her window in Hendon Close and there’s a lot of vandalism going on locally, especially between midnight and 2am.

"There was a bike set on fire on the football pitch and they’ve wrecked all the kids’ play equipment.

“The residents of Pendle Court had some new metal security gates put up in a bid to make it more secure, after the old wooden ones were wrecked, but the gang came and smashed the locks off.

"We cannot live like this anymore. We have contacted the police on numerous occasions but they’ve just got one little PCSO on duty whom we feel sorry for because he’s got such a big area to patrol.”

The neighbourhood watch officer has arranged to meet Leigh MP James Grundy in early April. A public meeting for Dootsons Park residents had been organised for an afternoon but fears were voiced that a lot of residents wouldn’t be able to attend because they are at work and then the police would then assume the low turn-out meant there wasn’t much public concern or interest.

Residents say they have been sending pictures, witness reports and even addresses of suspects to the police to little effect.

Another householder said: “I have made many many phone calls and logs to the police over the last five years – more than 30 in fact – and to no avail.

“We’ve attended community meetings and the only response is that officers tell us to keep reporting. It got quite heated when that was last said. Someone demanded to know how many reports did they want before they got up off their behinds and did something.

"They get given all photos and intelligence to do something, then they just leave it.

“Where I live, we’ve had a gate installed to stop some of the anti-social activity but it was smashed off in one day.

"This was recently replaced with a metal gate and marine lock but the locking plate was smashed in after two weeks.

“We are plagued with drugs/druggies, anti-social teen gangs vandalising property, off-road bikes racing up and down streets dangerously whilst police refuse to come out.

"Teen scum also steal wheelie bins and set them on fire on a regular basis too. I’ve recently had druggies coming to my door near midnight by mistake looking for the other house too.”

New neighbourhood inspector for Leigh and surrounding areas, Andrew Smith said: “Following reports of anti-social behaviour in the area we have increased our patrols around Dootson’s Park and Butts Street, including the deployment of plain clothes officers.

"We have also been working with Wigan Council to monitor the vicinity around the park.

"The Neighbourhood Team are in contact with several residents.”