“KILLER kids” are running Britain’s roughest estate – where children rip pigeons apart for fun, stab each other and run rampant on mopeds.
Fearful locals in Blakenall, Walsall, say buses and taxis now avoid the area after coming under attack from brick-chucking youths.
Roland LeonCllr Pete Smith is doing his utmost to transform the area’s poor reputation[/caption]
Roland LeonA house in the estate has been left for over a year with rubbish having been repeatedly dumped[/caption]
Roland LeonShop owner Vida Durowaa says she has been targeted many times by youths[/caption]
Katniss Selezneva was killed in a hit-and-run when she was struck by a 14-year-old moped riderNot known, clear with picture desk
Roland LeonMattresses left strewn across a pavement along a street in the village[/caption]
Roland LeonTwo neighbouring houses have been boarded up and turned into a local rubbish tip[/caption]
Roland LeonEmpty stores align Blakenall’s main shopping area[/caption]
Roland LeonLeon Images Residents in Blakenall with authorities struggling to tackle ongoing anti-social-behaviour, House been left with rubbish been dumped there[/caption]
Roland LeonBin bags lay next to broken fence panels along a public pathway[/caption]
A mum was left heartbroken after her seven-year-old daughter was killed in a hit-and-run crash by a 14-year-old boy on a moped in July last year.
A teenage boy was also jailed in November 2022 after leaving a 13-year-old permanently blind when he dragged a kitchen knife down his face outside a fish and chip shop.
And on one occasion, a live pigeon was allegedly torn apart in front of horrified staff and customers outside a shop.
Residents in the “urban village”, home to around 15,000 people, have said they fear leaving their homes owing to feral gangs of youths running the streets.
They say there are no consequences for kids committing regular thefts and harassing shopkeepers.
The shops in Blakenall include a butchers, a sandwich shop, a betting shop, three mini-markets, a post office, an Afro-Caribbean store and a Heron Foods.
Outside the butcher’s, an elderly couple described Blakenall as “the worst place in Britain”.
The man, who laughed at the idea of giving his name, added: “The people are great but there is a minority who are terrible. If you come under Blakenall, your car insurance will be ten times higher.”
Baljit Singh, 34, who runs a mini market, said: “It is at its worst in the summer holidays. The kids make fun by throwing eggs at cars and shops but it is no fun for anyone else.
“I have had the windows of my car bricked in twice, they target my CCTV cameras.”
Baljit also revealed how his family has been racially abused on multiple occasions.
The horror crimes that have plagued Blakenall
BLAKENALL has been plagued by a number of high-profile incidents in recent years
The parents of seven-year-old Katniss Selezneva spoke of their heartbreak after she was hit by a motorcycle in July last year.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the horror after Katniss was struck while playing on her scooter outside her home.
In a heartbreaking Facebook post, her mum Tsvetelina, wrote: “I don’t have strength and I don’t want to say goodbye to you, my star.
“How to let you go, my heart is bleeding, my soul is aching. Who will take care of you now up there my angel.
“I’m powerless, words are not enough, no consolation. Every day she told me, ‘I love you mom, you are the best mother and the most beautiful because you take care of me and do everything to make me happy’.”
The tragic incident came after a 13-year-old boy was left blind in one eye after being slashed across the face outside a local fish and chip shop.
The “dangerous schoolboy”, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was previously expelled from school.
Meanwhile, the victim was left devastated following the attack and told the court he cries at night as he tries to come to terms with his life-changing injuries.
Another shopkeeper, who asked not to be named, added: “Since Covid the situation has got a lot worse. There are big groups of kids, the older ones have motorbikes and they are very intimidating.
“When school finishes, they don’t go home, they just mess around. They have opened a youth club now and I hope it helps.”
Vida Durowaa, 43, who runs the Afro-Caribbean store, said she had been targeted many times.
Her friend Habiba Moomin, 38, explained: “Big grown-up men came in and stole the frozen meat. Vida was scared for her life.
“I think they go after everyone. They just look for vulnerability and react to that.
“My old mum was out and her ear piece headphone fell on the pavement. She was looking for it and these kids just saw it and started kicking it around between them.
“Taxi drivers avoid certain areas around here. My daughter is five now and I can’t wait to move.”
The first sight for visitors travelling to the area was previously a “Welcome to Blakenall Heath” sign that had most of its letters removed anyway.
Just along the street was then a pair of semi-detached houses part sheltered by a broken fence with metal shutters covering all of their windows.
Strangely, the shutters had been put on the inside of the bedroom windows – leaving shattered glass visible.
The side fence to the property in Chapel Street had also been removed, resulting in the back garden being turned into the local tip.
Across the adjoining back gardens and spilling up the side of the abandoned properties was a sea of waist-high fly-tipped rubbish.
Hundreds of black bin liners, nappies, wardrobes, assorted plastics and furniture were seen strewn across the two gardens.
One nearby business, which did not want to be named, said: “It is a complete health hazard and totally disgusting to look out on this every day.
“We have put rat traps everywhere to protect us from what must be a rodents’ paradise.”
But recent high-profile incidents which have garnered national attention, shining an unwanted spotlight on the estate, is said to have acted as a catalyst for change.
Sue Phillips, centre manager of the for the Bloxwich Community Partnership, said the council has invested £100,000 into local children’s services and a new youth club was opened last month.
She said: “Ten years ago, we used to have youth clubs on five nights a week. As the funding stopped, the behaviour got worse.
“Covid was then the icing on the cake and young people stopped engaging at all.
“We are really encouraged by the public’s response. We opened on February 12 and 178 people attended our family fun day.”
Councillor Pete Smith, the only elected Independent on Walsall Council, has represented Blakenall on and off for 35 years.
He said: “We are a relatively deprived area and it has been awful for the people who live here, the vast majority of whom are good, decent folk who look after each other.
“I am hoping that the bad publicity focused minds and we are now seeing a concerted, joined-up effort from the Council’s community protection team, police, housing associations and youth services to work together.
“We have had at least four arrests now, including 14 and 15-year-olds, girls as well as boys. We are hopeful we have turned a corner.”
Addressing the properties that have been transformed into a rubbish dump, Cllr Smith added: “I am disgusted by this. I have taken photos, put them on social media and am pressing the Council to pressure the landlords to sort it out. It’s totally unacceptable.”
Another shop owner said she was sick of young people in the area being cast in a bad light.
“It is not fair at all,” she said. “The kids we see are very polite. They say please and thank you.
“It’s not most kids behaving bad and young people are treated terribly.
“My kids are grown up now but they had a park to play in, a youth club to go to. There was a New Horizons which did trips out, counselling sessions, cooking lessons and there was scouts and a swimming pool.
“Most of that has gone now. There are no free passes for swimming and most of the time it’s booked out for mother and babies or aqua aerobics.
‘They built a health centre that took away much of the park and all the youth services stopped.”
Roland LeonRubbish strewn across the garden of one of the properties[/caption]
Roland LeonShopkeepers say they’re targeted by feral youths in the area[/caption]
Roland LeonSue Phillips. manager at Bloxwich Community Partnership, says recent high-profile crimes have acted as a catalyst for change[/caption]
Youth workers Liam Edwards Grace Yates and Nick Davies are hoping to impact the areaRoland Leon