Toxteth Mob Nightmare

FRIGHTENED families in Toxteth today called for action to stop gangs of criminals who are repeatedly ransacking homes.

Locals say a spate of burglaries and robberies is blighting the L8 area, with youths as young as 16 recruited to act as spies or lookouts.

Among the numerous victims was a 68-year-old former seaman confronted by two men after he answered a knock at his door on Arundel Close last Friday evening.

The Toxteth pensioner needed stitches after a bar was smashed over his head by one man while a second brandished a gun as they shouted, ?Give us the ****ing money!?

The elderly man says he has been preyed upon seven times and lost up to ?9,000 worth of property over the past six months.

The victim, who is too scared to be named, said: ?There was a ring of the bell and when I answered two people were standing in front of me.

?One punched me in the face and the other got behind me and hit me with an iron bar over my head.

?I was with my 27-year-old son at the time and after attacking me they ran away. It was very frightening.?

Merseyside police say they are aware of the increase in burglaries and robberies and have increased patrols in the area.

Residents believe homes have been targeted for at least six months and that many incidents in the close-knit community are not reported to police.

Another victim, father-of-three Khalid Shibani, 47, discovered he had been burgled when he returned to his Granby Street home on Friday.

He had just passed his driving test in Wallasey and arrived to find his watch, camera, laptop and gold jewellery stolen from his home after thieves had broken the door. continues.....