Yobs light 2am fire in park days after street stab horror
RESIDENTS SAY THEY ARE LIVING IN FEAR
A ‘GANG of masked teenagers’ were spotted setting a fire on a park in the early hours – just a week after a stabbing around the corner.
The incidents have prompted outrage from residents who say the neighbourhood is becoming a frightening place to live.
Neighbours in Higher Folds, Leigh, were woken at 2am yesterday to the sound of a fire engine and ‘five police cars’ swarming a park between Coronation Drive and Imperial Drive.
One resident, who wished not to be named, told the M.E.N.: “I looked out of the window and saw that the skate slide was on fire. There were around seven teenagers, if not more.
“I saw the fire engine at around 2am and then, a few minutes later, about five police cars came on the estate.”
Firefighters attended the scene at 1.45am and found a bin on fire on the park, confirmed Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.
The fire comes seven days after a man in his 20s was stabbed in broad daylight nearby Ludlow Drive.
On July 21, a 22-year-old man was approached by another man on nearby Balmoral Road, who then stabbed him, according to police. A number of police vehicles, ambulances and an air ambulance attended an address in Ludlow Drive and took the 22-year-old man to hospital. The man’s injuries were nonlife threatening and he has since been released. Inquiries are ongoing.
Neighbours say they think the area ‘is getting worse’ and fear ‘what’s going to happen next’ in the wake of the two incidents.
The resident said: “It’s not nice waking up to this, it just seems to be getting worse on this estate at the minute with cars being broken into and stolen, properties being damaged through the night and a stabbing last week.
“I can’t help but think what’s going to happen next.”
The resident said there are constantly emergency services in Higher Folds.
They added: “It is horrible at the moment, it makes you paranoid if something is going to happen to your own property or walking down the street when you’re seeing teenagers running away with their masks on and hoods up, knowing they are causing trouble. There’s never a day or night where you don’t hear a siren or see some kind of emergency service.”
Greater Manchester Police has been contacted for comment.