The Knox Family live on the corner of Stonely Road. The end wall of their houses faces straight onto the pavement. There are five people in the family – the parents, Brian and Margaret Knox and John (10), Robert (7) and the new baby Louise.

The Knox family like their house. It isn’t posh, but it is comfortable and there’s enough space for everyone. Just one thing really annoys them – the noise.

On a Friday and a Saturday night, older kids gather on the street corner and as often as not start to kick a ball at the end wall and shout loudly whilst there. All the Knox family can hear is a thud, thud, thud, and shouting over and over again.

Sometimes their next door neighbour, old Mrs Wilson gets frightened when gangs of kids gather close to her house. Sometimes she won’t even go to the shop for a pint of milk if she sees them hanging around.

Most of the time, Brian Knox deals with the situation by opening the front door and telling the kids to ‘clear off’. Most of the time the kids shrug and pull and face – but the noise stops.

Things changed however, a few weeks ago when some ‘new faces’ appeared. The noise started early one Saturday night and brain went through the usual routine – only to be jeered at and told to ‘****’ off’. Brian was furious. He didn’t recognise any of the kids involved and threatened to call the police. Slowly, the group drifted off to another part of the road, muttering and pulling faces as they went. Brian closes his door and went back to the TV.

Ten minutes later the gang returned. This time they started to kick several balls against the wall. The noise was so loud it woke baby Louise upstairs. Brian was fuming and got up to give the kids a piece of his mind. Margaret, afraid that the situation could get out of hand told him to sit down. She quickly called the police.

Constable Mullen and Constable White, the Community beat officers, arrived to deal with the situation. Constable Mullen recognised quite a few of the Kids – but there were two new faces he had not seen before, James Wood and Colin Watson. Constable Mullen later found that James Wood has two Non – Offence Referrals on File.