by Ronan McSherry

Following complaints from local residents a gang of teenagers running amok in Newtownstewart have been called to order by the PSNI.

In the latest in a series of incidents, the gang believed to number up to 10 youths, vandalised flower pots in front of the Church of Ireland in the village.

Retired pensioner Ivor Scallon who has lived in Newtownstewart all his life described the gang as 'teenage thugs who are terrorising and destroying the town.' While he does not believe the anti-social behaviour is sectarian, Mr Scallon spoke of incidents when the boys threw balloons 'filled with God know what' at cars, windows and houses. He also told how they threw a firework into a small shop while a man with his young child was being served.

According to the local pensioner the youths play football on the Main Street and when confronted they subject local people to a tirade of 'verbal abuse and filthy language.'

"I have great pride in Newtownstewart," said Mr Scallon. "This gang is ruining the place. Old people and disabled pensioners have been verbally abused by these guys and called foul names. It is going on a for a few years and on one occasion they broke a mirror on my car. I tried to sort it out diplomatically and approached their families rather than going to the police. Two of the families paid their portion but the others did not. It really is up to the parents to stop their actions.

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"Everyone in the town knows who they are. The parents of the culprits who vandalised the flowers should be fined and those responsible made repair and replace the damage they have caused."

Mark Catterson who leads the Newtownstewart neighbourhood policing team told the Ulsterherald the PSNI are aware of the group of young people and they were 'spoken to' on Tuesday evening. Emphasising that it was important not to overstate the problem, he said "There is a group of 14 to 15 year olds in the town responsible for 'torturing' local shop keepers and residents. They have been identified and spoken to. The flower pots in front of the church were vandalised and there have been ongoing incidents. It is probably no worse than anywhere else but seems to be a case of lads with too much time on their hands."

Sergeant Catterson stated that because of the age of the young people, their parents will also be made aware of their behaviour. He called on parents to know where their children are and what they are doing. Echoing the sentiments of Mr Scallon he said, "Newtownstewart is a lovely wee town and parents need to take responsibility for the behaviour of their children."