A WEYMOUTH estate has been hit by a new spate of vandalism – as one woman told of how she continues to live in fear of yobs.
Young firebugs have been blamed for starting a series of fires in playparks at Littlemoor.
Around the same time, vandals smashed seven fence panels at the home of a disabled woman whose property in Louviers Road has been targeted before.
Junette Hammond, who is known as June, is recovering from treatment for mouth cancer and says her worries have been made worse by the vandals.
She hopes to get the all-clear from cancer next year.
She said: “I just don’t know what’s up with them.
“I have no idea who is doing this or why.
“I’m trying to recover from cancer. I had an operation to remove a tumour and another one to sort out a blood clot then I had radiotherapy for six weeks. The treatment is still going on.
“All this is adding to my worries.”
Divorcee Miss Hammond, 61, who is looked after by live-in carer Graham McGowan, spoke of her concerns in 2009 after being the victim of unprovoked anti-social behaviour. She said: “If I saw the culprits in the street I would ask them: ‘What have you got against me?’”
Mr McGowan heard a noise in the front garden about 5am on Thursday.
There was no-one around when he went to investigate but he heard voices in fields opposite the house.
Mr McGowan said: “They smashed all down one side of the fence and halfway down the other.
“I haven’t got a clue who’s doing it but I feel terrible about it.”
The vandalism comes as Dorset Police investigates a series of fires around Littlemoor.
Two fires were started on different nights in the park off Bincombe Rise.
Firefighters were alerted at 8.40pm on Wednesday night to extinguish a blaze involving waste paper in the play tunnel.
The night before someone had started a fire on the slide.
PC Dale Collins of Weymouth police said three youths aged about 14 all with crew cut-style haircuts were seen with a green petrol can starting fires in and around the skatepark off Louviers Road just after 7am on Thursday.
One of the group wore a red top with a picture or motif on it.
The arson was reported by a man walking his dog who saw smoke and flames. The trio fled on bikes when he challenged them.
The man, who wants to remain anonymous, said: “They were in the middle of dousing one of the trees in petrol when I disturbed them.
“They were off like a shot.
“The trouble always gets bad up here during the school holidays.”
The vandalism at Littlemoor comes a week after a crime spree in the same area. Vandals left a trail of destruction in Canberra Road when they ripped the wing mirrors off five cars while a man had his motorbike stolen and set on fire nearby.
Contact Dorset Police in confidence on 01305 222222.
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