MANSFIELD: Sutton street's plague of vandals

Sutton street's plague of vandals

A FED-UP Sutton man has slammed the yobs who vandalised his car on Friday –– saying the attack is the latest in a series of acts of 'mindless vandalism' in his neighbourhood.

Paul Gannon says he and his neighbours have been plagued by youths who he claims are behind a spate of damage in The Twitchell area, which has seen car windows smashed and fences broken.

On one occasion, yobs even smashed seven slabs at the front of an elderly resident's house on the street.

Said Mr Gannon: "They have caused considerable damage over the last few months and last Friday they smashed my window and broke off my wing mirror on my new car.

"I have two little children and so need a good car. We struggled to buy this one –– with me working two jobs –– and then this happens.

He told Chad that he believes the hooliganism has spread from the town centre into nearby residential areas.

"At one point there were three Autoglass vans on the street repairing people's car windows," said Mr Gannon. "It is a group of youths aged about 19 or 20 and I have reported them to the police. It's just mindless vandalism."

Progress

This week Sutton police chiefs said they were working hard to reduce crime in The Twitchell area –– with officers making significant progress in tackling anti-social behaviour in the town, particularly around Sutton Lawn, Leamington and the town centre.

Said Sutton beat manager Sgt Andy Clarke: "I know that the local Safer Neighbourhood Team, which covers The Twitchell area, has been working closely with the local community to address their concerns, and have achieved sizeable reductions in anti-social behaviour.

"However, I'd be the first to acknowledge there is still more to be done to prevent and detect such instances, which can be very disruptive and upsetting to those involved.

"Thankfully, this would appear to be a relatively isolated incident, which is not to say it was not deeply distressing to the victim."

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