FAMILIES living in fear on a "nightmare estate" say balaclava-clad thugs – some as young as six – are terrorising them by lobbing bricks at their homes, with one man even left with brain damage.
Residents in Enderby Gardens, Middlesbrough, are also petrified after a string of stabbings, shootings and arson in the area, a Sun Online investigation can reveal.
Local Victoria Fairbridge previously told how she was forced to barricade her family in their house after yobs threatened to "beat the disabled" out of her son.
The 28-year-old, mum to a six-year-old with a heart condition and a boy, eight, on the autistic spectrum, piled a trampoline, bins and chairs in front of her kitchen window so the teens couldn't "cut his head off" as they had threatened.
But the violence on the scruffy Hemlington site doesn't end there – with those living in the area reporting scores of other frightening crimes.
Dad-of-four Peter Thomson said: "There was a shooting around the corner. Just
outside our house a taxi driver was robbed by people with machetes.
"The teenagers walk around with balaclavas on and they go about terrorising the
estate.
"I've had motorbikes stolen from my garden. I've had to spend over £200 on CCTV and a cage to stop the theft.
"A lad around the corner had bricks put through his windows."
The tradesman, 40, who has lived on the estate for four years, added: "There was a man who had bricks thrown at him by six or seven-year-olds and he ended up with brain damage.
"They see the older kids doing it and think that's how to behave.
"The parents let them do whatever. There's nothing for kids to do around here so they cause trouble."
Peter said things have become so bad that "even the police are scared of them".
He said: "One time the police were getting a statement from me about an incidentnd he had to keep checking his van was okay."
Peter continued: "It's a bad area to live in. We've been trying to get out for a while now but it's a council house so you have to pay a few thousand pounds to get yourself out, which we can't afford.
"I have five kids aged two to ten and they don't go out. One of them fears he's going to be blamed for something other kids are doing.
"One of my children has down syndrome and he can't go out because they shout at him, they're nasty.
"It makes me worry about the kids. We work together as a community to make it
better and look out for one another but it isn’t enough."
'I WISH I NEVER MOVED HERE'
Yesterday afternoon, the council estate was strewn with an array of debris including fast food wrappers, beer cans and dangerous piles of glass.
Several abandoned terraced houses stood boarded up, with locals claiming this is because residents have fled the area in fear of threatening teens.
Children's toys lay caught in the branches of bare trees, lending a neglected air to the rundown streets.
There was a police presence in the area, but otherwise the estate was more or less deserted, with residents too scared to leave their homes.
Amy Hughes has lived on the estate for seven years and says she is often too scared to leave her home.
The 29-year-old, who currently isn't working due to ill health, said: "The yobs have set my bins alight before.
"They put my neighbours windows through with bricks or stones as well. There's also been stabbings.
"I wish I never moved here. I don't want to sell this home because my nana bought it for me but it's always been bad.
"I've lived here for seven years and it's getting worse, especially during the pandemic. It's a nightmare.
"If I don't have to go out, I won't. I'm even scared to let my dog out in the garden or walk my dog because of them. You don't feel safe in your own home."
Other residents didn't want to identified out of fear of attacks by the yobs.
One OAP said: "They've been walking around on a night.
"They set bins on fire and smash windows. They don't usually bother with my property, they just call me the old lady.
"I've been here for 40 years. It's become worse over the years. It was quite nice, then people started pinching cars.
"I see it as more of an inconvenience than being afraid. I still walk my dog by myself.
"The police have started taking more notice. It has quietened down for now but
I don't know how long it will last."
Another pensioner added: "I'm elderly and for a while it was getting quite scary for us, especially the older people.
"I would like to think it's been resolved now. There's more police around and there's curfews. They've been talked to."
The teenagers walk around with balaclavas on and they go about terrorising the
estate.
It follows Victoria's claims that gangs of teenagers continue to harass them while the police "do nothing" about it.
The mum-of-two said she no longer feels safe in her own home and her children are too scared to leave the house or even play in the garden.
Victoria told TeessideLive: "It all started just before Halloween, they started throwing things at the house and I asked them nicely to leave so they didn't disturb my kids.
"They began to kick off at me and told me that they were going to 'beat the disabled out' of my son and 'cut his head off'."
She added: "On Friday night it was my son's sixth birthday and we had to have people stood outside the house during the storm because the group were causing bother and abusing us once again.
"While he was in the bath on Sunday they threw something at the window which shattered the first pane and he was terrified.
"A six-year-old shouldn't feel scared about living at home.
"My fiancé Jack has started patrolling the streets around the house so the groups don't come near.
"The police have arrived multiple times but the sirens always make the group scarper away."
A joint statement from Cleveland Police and Thirteen Group, Victoria's landlord, said officers were working with local agencies to tackle the issues reported.
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