CCTV : U.K thugs smash 29 windows of family home and wreck their £10,000

These dramatic pictures show the depths of a mystery hate campaign being waged against a family since they bought and renovated a suburban bungalow.

Company boss Gary Morris, 46, carried out building work on the property, including a £10,000 conservatory, before moving in with his fiancee and her daughter.

But on the day the work was finished a string of mysterious vandal attacks began culminating in a vicious rampage in which two hooded men smashed 29 of their windows with claw hammers.

CCTV images showed the two men systematically shattering each window pane in broad daylight on a Wednesday afternoon before running off.


In separate incident Mr Morris' fiancee Nicola Procter, 44, a regional account manager for a fresh food distributer and her daughter Ashleigh, 20, a university student, have also complained of being followed by men in a Vauxhall Astra.

The hoodlums also threw a container, containing sawdust, dried insects and a live mouse onto Miss Proctor's Vauxhall Corsa car which was parked on the driveway.

In another attack, liquid bitumen was hurled around the walls and windows of the semi-detached property.

Today, as police issued CCTV of the rampage, Mr Morris, a sales manager for a battery and lighting company, said he was at a loss as to why he and his family had been targeted at their £155,000 home in Worsley, Greater Manchester.

Mr Morris said: 'I feel sick and violated at what's happening to us. We've just thought, "why us?". It's not as if we have the plushest house on the estate - we live in a £155,000 two-bedroomed bungalow and some of the other houses in the area are much bigger.

'When we installed CCTV shortly after we bought the house, our neighbours laughed at us and said, "you won't need that", its just such a lovely area. There's a lot of retired people here and they tell me it's always so quiet and nobody has had any trouble.'I'm just embarrassed now because it's as if we're bringing trouble to the street - even though we have no enemies.

'I worked since I was 16-years-old and the only debt I have to anyone is to pay off my mortgage. We're a quiet, respectable family who keeps themselves to themselves. We're baffled as to why these things are happening to us.'

Mr Morris bought the house in April last year from a couple who had moved to Australia.

He said: 'It needed a bit of updating, so we had a lot of work done - including redecorating and knocking down walls - and got a lovely conservatory outside the back.

'The conservatory was finished in July and cost around £10,000. We were delighted with it.

'I remember it was completed on Sunday, July 22, and we had been at the house all weekend redecorating the place - everything was coming together and we were planning to move in the next couple of weeks.

'However the next day I got a call from a builder who told me liquid bitumen had been poured all over the glass. I was in shock, I couldn't believe it. It was such a random attack on us.

'I called the police and then all I could do was write a cheque for £5,000 to get the glass and frame replaced - I felt helpless. We hadn't even moved in or enjoyed the conservatory. 



'Nicola was so devastated, she wanted to sell the house straight away. It really disturbed her that this was happening and we hadn't even moved in yet.

'I assured them everything would be alright and it was just a one off. I just wanted to make it a lovely family home for us.'

Bur after Mr Morris and Miss Proctor moved in with her daughter Ashleigh the vandals struck again, in March, smashing the windows while they were out. Mr Morris said: 'I raced home and found around ten police officers there and there was glass everywhere.

'When you look at the footage it's very obvious that is has been pre-meditated - these men knew exactly where they were going. They were on the property for one minute and caused damage worth £4,000.

We could make out a black Astra car on the footage. We think that same car followed Ashleigh and then Nicola home a few days later to scare them.

'Then at 2am on Wednesday, April 10, Ashleigh, who sleeps upstairs in the annex, was wakened by the security lights coming on - she peeked out the window and saw a man wearing a hood looking in the kitchen window.

'She ran through to us in a state and Nicola pressed the panic button we keep next to our bed which alerted the police.

'The man had climbed over our big gates, tried the conservatory and back door and on realising he couldn't get inside, he threw a container of dead crickets and sawdust on the bonnet of my wife's Corsa and then threw a live white mouse about 18ft out of a paper bag. It landed near the car and scampered underneath.

'This was disturbing. What kind of opportunist burglar carries dried insects and a mouse? It's very odd and it has really affected us. We're sleeping with one eye open in our own home.

'We got rid of our letter box when the windows were smashed in - and we think he was attempting to find a way of tipping the insects and mouse into the house.

'It's a horrible position to be in. Nicola is too scared to be in the house alone - we're terrified of what will happen next, what it will take for them to stop it.

'I haven't received any mail or phone calls asking for any money or debts - if someone has a problem with me, I would welcome them to call me and get in touch.'

Miss Proctor, said: 'I'm completely run down, I haven't slept in a week because of it. We sleep with a panic alarm beside us - that shouldn't be the case. When my daughter was away last week, I actually went upstairs and slept in her bed because I felt safer. We're terrified.

'Last Wednesday I was on my way home from work, as I pulled into our street a black Astra followed behind, knowing it was there I decided to drive past my home and continue to the end of the street, it followed. I turned my car around in the cul-de-sac and waited, the car then manouvered out and drove away.

'I was too frightened to look and see who it was, but they were following me and I found out they had done the same to my daughter moments earlier. We're always looking in our wing mirror to see if we're being followed.'

Ashleigh, who studies at the University of Central Lancashire, said: 'I'm having difficulty getting to sleep because I'm scared about what will happen next. My tiredness has affected my university course work - how much I was able to do over the holidays. It's just bizarre. I would never stay in the house alone, I'd be too scared.

'I keep panicking when the outside lights go on, but usually it's just a cat or the wind. My mum is too afraid to put our cats out for long in case something happens to them or they get taken.'

Detective Constable Steve Powell, of Greater Manchester Police, said: 'This has been a disturbing turn of events for the victims, a mum, dad and a grown-up daughter, who are at a complete loss to explain why they are being targeted in the way.

'Not surprisingly, the incidents are beginning to have a psychological effect on them and they are desperate for them to stop.'

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 5097 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Source: DailyMail

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