FAMILIES living in a Poole estate terrorised by youths are getting desperate after two men were beaten up near their homes.

Police have stepped up patrols in the area over the weekend in response to repeated complaints from residents about groups of young people causing trouble in Adastral Square.

Residents told the Daily Echo the teenagers have been kicking balls at their windows and hurling abuse at passers-by and once pushed Chinese food through the letterbox of Onyx hair salon in the square.

For the White and Dickson famil-ies, who live around the square, matters came to a head with a violent attack last Friday, October 8.

Andrew White, 37, and his friend Matt Dickson, 29, were on their way home from the Pilot pub at around 11.30pm, when one of the youths made a comment to them.

He said: "We replied something like: 'We really don't want to know. Why don't you just go away?'

"I walked back towards the my house and the next thing I knew, I felt a punch to the back of the head and I was being knocked and punched on the ground."

Mr Dickson was also attacked as he walked the opposite direction, and both men have visited Poole Hospital repeatedly in the week since the attack with bruising and concussion.

Mr White suffered a fractured cheekbone and Mr Dickson is still waiting for test results to see what damage has been done.

Mr Dickson's wife Barbara said their three-year-old daughter is too scared to go out when the youths are there.

She added that they want the police to put an order in place so that they can send the youngsters away if they are in groups of three or more.

"We want the police to move them on instead of babysitting them," she said.

Chief Inspector Glen Chalk, head of operations for Poole, said he and the council had discussed imposing this order in Adastral Square.

However, this could move the problem elsewhere, so they will try other ways of dealing with it first and impose the order if it persists.

Square prioritised

"From the weekend, we have prioritised Adastral Square for all officers across the Gravel Hill section, supported by the dedicated beat teams," he said.

"They will intervene at an early stage, with the key objective of taking the ringleaders out of circulation by introducing them into the criminal justice system or youth support services."

He added that the police have identified 10 ringleaders, spoken to their parents and will use measures such as acceptable behaviour contracts and antisocial behaviour orders to deal with them.

Matthew Long, the owner of Onyx hair salon, said the stepping up of police presence was necessary.

"They just intimidate people - they expect to come round a shopping precinct and not be harassed," he said.

Anyone who has any information about the assaults last week should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.