Express & Star

'It's just shattering our nerves': Couple's torment as gangs plague Walsall street

A man recovering from bone cancer and his wife who has become blind in one eye due to a brain tumour are "frightened to death" by anti-social behaviour plaguing their road in Walsall.

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David Birch, who is recovering from bone cancer and sepsis, is concerned about anti-social behaviour on the street where he lives in Bentley, Walsall.

David and Nicola Birch say their "nerves are shattered" after a "group of youths" has started repeatedly vandalising two empty houses on Anson Road in Bentley.

This includes smashing every window in the two houses, spray painting the walls and ripping a gas fire off the wall. The gang have even defecated inside the houses.

The properties now emanate a strong smell of marijuana and alcohol, while motorbikes can be heard screeching up and down the road into the early hours of the morning.

On one notable occasion, the gang damaged every street light after hitting them with catapults, plunging the street into darkness for a week.

The anti-social behaviour has invaded the lives of the residents on Anson Road and driven them to despair.

One of the properties being vandalised on Anson Road in Bentley.
One of the properties being vandalised on Anson Road in Bentley.

David, aged 60, and Nicola, aged 47, are at their wits' end after suffering this behaviour for months, which has recently escalated and now occurs every evening.

David, a retired transport manager, said: "It's just shattering our nerves. My hands are shaking most of the day. As soon as it gets to 6pm, I get all tense and nervous.

"We're wondering if it's going to be our windows next. We used to sit outside every evening and listen to the birds but now we're worried a brick will be thrown over the fence. We feel frightened to death."

The 60-year-old told the Express & Star that the anti-social behaviour had begun in February, when the two houses became vacant. One of them is managed by the whg housing association, but residents do not know who owns the other.

Over the last fortnight, the regularity of the anti-social behaviour has increased and David says that the gang visits the properties every night, usually from 6pm until 2am.

"We've contacted the police six times," David said. "The first time we contacted them they told us that there was no victim so there wasn't a lot they could do. I questioned them and said, 'no victim?' but we heard nothing else about it.