Vandals make life a misery for disabled man and wife
Tuesday 22nd February 2011, 2:57PM GMT.
David Thorne of Jardins du Soleil, where two of his windows were broken at the weekend
A DISABLED man and his wife living on a housing estate at First Tower have said their lives are being made a misery by young people damaging the property and verbally abusing them.
David and Bernadette Thorne, who live at Jardins du Soleil, First Tower, suffered the latest shock at the weekend when two of their lounge windows were smashed while they were at home.
Mr Thorne, who suffers from osteo-arthritis, said that this incident was the latest of a number since they moved to the flat 12 years ago.
Trouble on the estate has reached such a point that the States police will be increasing their patrols after Housing reported the problems.
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If people can’t control their kids they shouldn’t have them.
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MMMMMMMMM increase their patrol’s before or after tea breaks…. where all these new recruits!!!! The police are NEVER around when you need them…those kids should be punished and made repair all damages impacted on this poor couple they wouldn’t do it their grandparents or own family… would they….The police really need to get a grip of these brats and deal with them not giving them a warning and letting them off ….
I feel so sorry for the couple who are trying to enjoy life and these brats are being out of control where are their parents in all of this…..
The police are NEVER AROUND WHEN YOU NEED THEM….
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Obviously it goes without saying that this is disgusting conduct by delinquent chav spawn, but i can’t help thinking that publicising this and including their names and address will only encourage this behaviour.
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Come on Chief Bowron…this is one for you to supervise…..this needs jumping on.
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Sarah – isn’t it a bit late by then?
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The police will have better chance of catching these mindless vandals if they increase patrols, but this alone will not be a panacea for these sort of crime. Remember the police need to be exactly the right location at the precise moment the offence occurs – a tall order.
The police will need to use a bit more cunning if they are to catch their quarry – and before this comment attracts comment about corrupt practices, I mean they must of course the police must abide by the law. There are additional investigative techniques, other than increasing patrols that will need to be considered.
The public can also do their bit, by passing any suspicions or information they have about who is responsible to the police. Many people may criticise the cops, but there are times when everyone should pull together to help them. This is such an occasion – surely nobody wants to see a vulnerable and disabled victim suffer like this.
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If only life was so simple Sarah
Mistakes happen and especially thanks to the way many people decide to live their lifes these days.
I would expect the new Police Chief to grab this situation and deal with it without failure. If the Police are in need of more power, then lets give it to them and kill the problem dead. We don’t want something like this to grow in to a cancer that will finally effect all of us.
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#1 So true Sarah. But then information from health services suggests that around half of pregnancies are unplanned. Worrying that so little concern is given to such a major decision.
I am increasingly for curfews and legally obliging parents to enforce them, too many parents just don’t want their own kids around the house. It’s time they were subjected to their own offspring because if they didn’t want kids/young people around the house for at least 2 decades then they could have had a termination. Sad thing is that the kids that are causing the trouble will no doubt end up being adults that leech off the taxpayer (let’s be honest, they’re unlikely to amount to much), so they ruin people’s lives just now and live off those same people in the future.
States of Jersey and Police, do something about young people and rotten parents now, make them take responsibility for their own failings.
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Mo…
Another police basher… what a surprise in this island…. What exactly do you do to help the police.. do you call in suspicious looking people.. or like most of the public do you just ignore it? Oh and what exactly do you mean by get a hold of and dealing with them?
The police are only part of the chain.. what about the parents, the schools, the courts, probation etc.. I never see any one on these forums attacking these agencies. The majority of you just attack the police. Its my opinion and that all it is so don’t start getting all high and mighty..but i believe alot of people in this island have no actual idea of what is happening on a daily basis and little to no idea of how the police and courts work. If you did you wouldnt be so quick to comment…Everyone one needs to take some responsibilty for what happens and why these kids get away with so much. We cannot lay the blame all on the doorstep of the police.
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The police are too busy chasing parking fines for their next Christmas bonus. This is the most I see of them.
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Me # 9. The world is full of police critics; the cops aren’t there to win a popularity contest. It was always thus.
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Peter, since the money from fines doesn’t go to the police, and they don’t get a Christmas bonus, your post is pointless puerile rubbish, wouldn’t you agree?
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This is an absolute disgrace!
The parents of these children should be named and shamed and pay for all the costs involved.
These yobs have no respect, and if you give one a clip round the ear, the way the world has gone these days, you will find yourself in jail…how pathetic!
The world is going mad.
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The police know who these lowlife dregs of society are but they seem unwilling to act for whatever reason. And before any lily livered do-gooder comes on here defending them, remember this – Mr Thorne is disabled, end of story.
So, tell Mr & Mrs Thorne to give me a call, I’ll come down there and knock seven bells out of the chav scum and i’ll do the same to their chav scum parents if they want to whine about it.
How about that for a solution?
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The St Helier Honorary police are undermanned by almost 50%.
Anybody fancy doing their bit for the community.
This is one of the types of problems the HP could assist the SoJP by patrolling at times when the SoJP are busy with real villains.
Interested?
Follow this link.
http://www.jerseyhonorarypolice.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=15&MMN_position=8:8
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PJG # 15. If the Honorary Police would pay for my flights between duties, I’d gladly join the Honorary Police – sounds like fun.
Farmer Geddon # 12. Spot on my old mate – fines either go to parish funds or the States. Peter obviously criticises the police because he has nothing better to do. It’s all rather churlish
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If someone took the time to speak to teenagers you will find out that there is a few teenagers gangs around the island. I doubt it is like the Bronx yet but it is definitely happening.
Why don’t they put a security camera in all the estates so you know who s coming and going. Can t expect the police to be there every time.
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No 9 Me…..
Get your facts straight before jumping at people saying they are “police bashers”….WRONG FACT SO WRONG…yes I do report things to the police and on occassions have been asked to see how bad things are as there are NO UNITS availabe how dare you be judgemental of me…mo one is perfect in this world but what these brats are doing is a down right disgrace…..name and shame I say and it shouldn’t matter what age they are… they should be kept under control full stop…..
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If and when the cuprits are caught,there are no consequences, not enough to frighten them anyway.
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Why haven’t any of the other residents on the estate bothered to keep an eye out for each other? Surely they must have an inkling of who it is and if it is their children they should be disgusted with themselves..
@14.. probably not such a bad idea, they would think twice about doing it again the little so and so’s unfortunately that is the only method most of them will understand. Kids like that will only ever pick on the vulnerable as there is no opposition the police should really be doing more to protect people who are living in fear.
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Too many kids have a lack of discipline in their lives these days, and this leads to unruly teenagers.
Our island is dominated by spineless liberals, who want children protected no matter what they’ve done. When I was a child, I had a good clip around the ear when I was naughty. Too many youngsters know the authorities seem powerless to deal with them, and combined with unresponsible parents we’ve ended up with an island full of pikeys and chavs.
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#14 Marty, I’m in. A whole mob of adults springing out from nowhere and angry as hell might even make these kids think twice. It certainly used to work.
#20 Vicki, unfortunately the parents probably don’t care where their kids are as long as they are not under THEIR feet. Too busy socialising with their own friends, or maybe in a drunken stupor Shame they didn’t ask the rest of us before having kids cause they seem to want everyone else to raise them!
#9 I have phoned the Police. I limit it to incidents where major injury is a serious possibility because otherwise I’d never be off the phone to them. Recently when lives were actually at risk due to some young people’s dangerous behaviour (unfortunately it wasn’t their own lives at risk, it never is!) no-one was answering. The initial call got answered and ‘put through’ where it was promptly picked up and put back down again! This happened 4 times after which I closed the curtains so as not to be witness to anything. I keep the curtains shut most of the time now, it’s easier that way. From what I can gather most people in our block of flats that used to bother have also given up due to the police not responding or responding with every warning signal possible as early as possible (hardly going to catch anyone that way, but then that seems to be the point).
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And no, I don’t blame the Police themselves. I blame the parents first, then the Law and then the States!
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many on here following the comments made by No 9 say they are not police bashers, and that the police never do any thing…codswollop…
policing starts in the community !!! how can the police efficiently do their job if no one is will to stand up to these idiots out there.
we were recently vandalised and when i asked the neighbours in my street if they saw/heard anything they said that they heard noise etc outside but were to worried about looking out of their windows because they didn’t want to get involved. if they had of looked then the yobs who did what they did would have been identified and the police could have finished what they started.
Leah did you consider dialing 999 if it was that important and not the station? also if you are that concerned, along with the other residents in your area then maybe you shouldn’t keep your eyes closed.
people need to stand up for themselves and others around them in their community, and not just rely on one authority to do what you should be doing…the police cant be everywhere at the same time.
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The problem is the society we live in, basically children are becoming untouchable, they cannot be smacked or chastised, in some cases parents and teachers can’t even shout at them as some over zealous social worker will complain that this traumatise them and stunts their social growth … PATHETIC!!! Children need structure and boundaries, basically parents are responsible for the actions of their children whilst they are still considered minors under the law, therefore if caught the parents of the vandals need to be forced to pay for the damages.
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#24 Katherine, yes I did consider it, and it wasn’t appropriate, it would have been appropriate if the worst did happen but it wasn’t appropriate before then (unfortunately). Abuse of the 999 system is not the answer to today’s youth problem.
And yes I should keep my eyes closed because (as I stated) I’d be running up a big phone bill and losing a heck of a lot of time otherwise, all for something that the States clearly do NOT want to tackle.
We are living in a society where the Government know the law but decide to now just forget a lot of it. Breach of the peace is still a law but good luck ever trying to get anyone charged for it.
If I lived near the couple in the article then I would look out for them and keep an eye out for things going on, but am I going to keep an eye out for every stranger that passes along our street (all 100+ a night)? No.
I do what I can while still getting my work and study done, and if everyone else did the same there would be no problem because the load would be shared. That’s the way it’s meant to be Katherine. In our street of around 70 flats there are only 2 of us that ever phone the police.
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@Mo
Conversation to please should go thus;
“You have no units available? Not to worry I’ll shoot the little blighters myself”
Bet within 5 minutes you’ll have the police round.
They’ll say, “I thought you had a gun and were going to shoot the little blighters”
You say, “I thought you had no units available.”
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