Wigan under siege: Residents being terrorised by gang of yobs

Teenagers being threatened and punched in the street and elderly people’s homes being pelted with eggs are just some of the claims being raised by residents in Hindley over the past few weeks.

Today, the mother of one of the gang’s victims revealed details of her son’s ordeal, adding that police cuts had resulted in there being little to mitigate against such behaviour.

“There have been quite a few reports in Hindley about children terrorising OAPs. And it’s the same group,” she said.

“I can’t tell you how many people are telling me about this. They are sick of it.”

She added: “They have been going around throwing eggs at windows, one even put their head through a window and shouted at an elderly couple to ‘give me some ******* cigs’.”

Her 14-year-old son was attacked by a group of three to four teenagers earlier this month, while walking back from a shop.

“He had gone to get me some money out of the cash point. They threw something at the side of his head and hurled insults. How disgusting,” she said.

“My son said to them ‘that’s awful, don’t say things like that’. The next minute, someone comes up to him and smashes something against his head.”

Her son started walking home, trying to ignore their taunts and threats to fight him, but he was followed by the group.

He was just metres from his home when the group caught up to him, pinned him against a wall and punched him in the side of the head.

The terrified teenager managed to get away and make it back to the safety of his home. He suffered at least three cuts to his head as a result of the incident.

His mum said: “It’s not the worst injury in the world, we didn’t have to take him to hospital, but that’s not the point. We reported it to police, they say there have been dozens of reports about these kids in the community, terrorising people.”

She added: “We needed the council and police to come together and talk to the community about this. It’s ridiculous, they are terrorising elderly people, there is no control.

“We need more help from police, we need it because there’s no deterrent.”

Will Blandamer, assistant director for partnerships, safeguarding and reform, said: “We are committed to ensuring residents have the opportunity to live their lives free from unacceptable anti-social behaviour.

“We work with public partners including the police along with communities and residents to address anti-social behaviour from prevention to enforcement. We would encourage anyone with anti-social behaviour reports or concerns to contact us.”