A FAMILY claims it has been tormented by violent abuse for more than two years by youths intent on forcing them out of their home.

Carol Taylor, 45, of Townfield Road, Barnton, says she and her husband Mike, and 15-year-old daughter Kerry, have been victimised by youths who have made their lives hell.

Since moving to the village in 1998 the family have suffered at the hands of gangs of youths who have repeatedly threatened them with violence and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to their house and cars.

"Every night we come home and live in fear of what is going to happen next," said Carol. "If I could pick my house up and put it somewhere else I would, but we just can't afford to move."

In one incident Kerry, who suffers from diospraxia, a condition which affects co-ordination, was beaten up so badly that doctors thought she had a ruptured spleen.

Carol, who also had to undergo hospital treatment when two of her fingers were broken during an attack, said: "Things became so bad that I had to take her out of school, and because they couldn't get to her there, they came here."

The latest incident took place on Sunday night when youths threw mud at their house after mistaking Carol for a local resident who had sent a letter to the Guardian regarding Jubilee Corner.

She added: "We must be the only people who pray for bad weather, because that's the only time when they stay at home and we can try to live a normal life."

A spokesman for Northwich police said: "Living in a community is all about tolerating each other, but the Taylors have suffered quite severely from a series of incidents which are not only anti-social to themselves, but their neighbours as well. It is a problem which we are taking seriously and we certainly intend to find a solution to it."

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