Could it happen here?

The tragic deaths of Fiona Pilkington and her daughter Francceca in Leicestershire at the end of last year prompted Margot James to ask the question could such a thing happen in Stourbridge?

A wave of anti-social behaviour is going unchecked in Stourbridge. Margot James, Conservative Candidate for Stourbridge is contacted every week by residents in fear of bullying neighbours.

Sometimes whole streets are frightened of one or two families so much so that they are reluctant to give evidence to the police.

Margot says “I am currently dealing with cases in Norton, Wychbury and the Grange estate, situations that have been ongoing for a number of years yet only one arrest has been made, in my experience the problems only subside when the ringleaders are charged and sent away to a young offenders institution as happened finally in a case last year in Wollaston; warnings and cautions can deter the hangers on but not until the ringleaders are removed from the area. The Police need to be more focussed on making these necessary arrests.”

The sort of problems that too many people in the town will be only too familiar with are illustrated by the cases Margot is involved with:

Wychbury: A gang of youths known to the police have used a small park as a base for drinking and acts of vandalism, the residents who have gardens backing on to the park have suffered missiles being thrown in to their gardens, verbal abuse, indecent exposure, children being bullied and the children’s play area on which £100,000 has been spent by the council on equipment vandalised so badly it has had to be closed. Residents on streets leading to the park have had cars vandalised, missiles thrown at their homes and have been verbally abused whenever they have tried to intervene. The Police have been informed on numerous occasions but no arrests have been made. The Council have now, with the approval of residents, closed the park and the land may be built on.

Grange Estate: Two families have been intimidating neighbours in a campaign which has been building up for several years. Youths intimidate residents by chanting obscenities outside their homes, slashing car tyres and in ways that mirror the Fiona Pilkington case, a single mother and her two children, one of whom has learning difficulties, have been driven from her home. Prior to her departure she was so frightened she never left her home in the dark so her children could not participate in after school activities during winter months. The police are involved and it is hoped that proper action is to be taken imminently. The single mother is being re-housed.

Norton: Residents are in fear of a family who have been perpetrating similar behaviour to the above cases. Gangs, in this case one family, pick on vulnerable neighbours like the single mother above, in the case of Norton it is an older lady who lives alone and is afraid to come to her door because of the intimidation and abuse perpetrated by children as young as seven. The case deteriorated last Autumn when the father of the out of control family was arrested and charged with GBH with intent to wound after he subjected a neighbour to an unprovoked and pre-meditated attack with a baseball bat which left the victim hospitalised and unable to work.

Margot James said “We are far too concerned with the rights of wrongdoers. If the problem family in Norton had been moved out and the father arrested for the violence, abuse and threats that are his stock in trade earlier in his campaign of intimidation the serious injuries he inflicted on his neighbour would not have happened. Similarly in the Grange Estate case it is quite wrong that it is the victim whose life is turned upside down and is forced to move from her home whilst the perpetrators remain in their home and carry on as before picking on someone else. Finally it is really awful that we have got to the point where residents want the closure of a community facility so that the gangs who have made their lives hell move on elsewhere. There has to be a dramatic reversal of our priorities within the criminal justice system so that the rights of law abiding residents to live their lives without violence and daily intimidation are put well ahead of the rights of those who are hell-bent on destruction.