Armed gang storm flats in Southill in Weymouth

The group of young people smashed the windows and entered a property in Southill Garden Drive, near Radipole Lane in Southill, whilst in possession of a machete and hammer.

The incident took place shortly after midnight on Friday, January 27 at Lawrance Court, a retirement housing complex. 

After entering the premises the gang is reported to have assaulted the male occupant of the house on the hand. The man was later taken to hospital for treatment by the ambulance service. 

Police officers attended the scene and carried out searches of the local area, assisted by a police helicopter, and were there for several hours investigating the incident with a cordon in place around the building. 

An investigation is underway and is being led by detectives from Dorset County crime investigation department. An examination of the scene is also being carried out. 

A machete has been recovered by police. No information was provided regarding the hammer.

No arrests have been made by Dorset Police at this time. 

Those with information or concerns regarding the incident can contact officers from the local police neighbourhood team.

"Dorset Police received a report at 12.03am on Friday, January 27 of an aggravated burglary in Southill Garden Drive in Weymouth," a Dorset Police spokesperson said.

"It is reported that a group of young people smashed the windows of an address, before entering the property in possession of a machete and a hammer.

"The male victim was assaulted on the hand and was taken to hospital for treatment by the ambulance service.

"Officers attended and carried out searches of the area, assisted by the NPAS helicopter.

"An investigation is underway led by detectives from Dorset County CID and an examination of the scene is being carried out. A machete has been recovered.

"Officers from the local neighbourhood policing team can be approached by anyone in the community with any information or concerns."

Local councillor Peter Barrow told the Dorset Echo that he has not seen anything like this incident during his 50 years living in the area.

"I have lived in Weymouth since 1970 and I am struggling to remember an incident like that, where a gang have gone into a person's complex and do something like that - it is horrendous," he said. 

"If you talk to the police, Southill is a very quiet place with not an awful lot of crime, hardly any anti-social behaviour - it is just a nice place to live with peaceful residents.

"This is very unusual for the area and for Weymouth."

Cllr Barrow added that as a member of the local police and crime panel, he will be following this up to find out 'exactly what happened'.

"The gang need to be identified because they are obviously extremely dangerous people," he said.

"As far as I am concerned, this is something out of the blue and is completely horrendous and we need to catch the people who did it and find out why they attacked that particular person in that particular property."

A statement from the company which operates the flats, Housing21, said: "We can confirm there was an incident which took place at Lawrance Court in the early hours of this morning (Friday).

The smashed window at Lawrance Court (Image: Kieran Bell)

"This was an isolated incident and we are supporting the police with their investigation.

"The safety and welfare of our residents remains our priority and we are offering them our full support.

"As this is an active police investigation, we are unable to comment further."