THREE groups of youths roaming the village of Kempsey have been blamed for a catalogue of vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

One parish councillor, John Michael, described them as "feral gangs" of youths showing disrespect. He warned there would be a backlash from residents unless the authorities took some action.

After a lull in March and April, there have been 13 reports of anti-social behaviour and nine criminal damage incidents in the village.

Kempsey beat manager PC Alan Naulls, who compiled the figures, said police are stepping up night patrols.

There was no set pattern to the criminal damage, which involved fences and windows being broken, car windows smashed and a vehicle paintwork being scratched.

Church Street resident Louise Priest described trouble from youths gathering at the Rocky.

One group with cars would rev their engines and frequently block the road. Another group with motorbikes seemed to be carrying out time trials in the village.

"They are on the pavement and they have no crash helmets," she said. "There is a much younger group, which we haven't had trouble from for about three weeks.

"They drop litter and there is a lot of swearing."

Problems included youths playing football at 1am, uprooting garden plants and throwing obstructions into the stream.

"If you go out and speak to them, you get abuse," said Mrs Priest.

Youths are not thought to be responsible for the deliberate vandalism of the bridge at the Rocky, where four heavy timber supports were cut through, allowing the un-

supported bridge to collapse.

PC Naulls urged residents who experienced anti-social behaviour, even at 1am, to call the police and ask for the incident to be recorded.

"We need to know about it, but we also need names, descriptions and car registration numbers," he said.

On the anti-social behaviour recorded since April, he said: "There has been a lot of aggravation with footballs, even on the main roads, and incidents of youths jumping in and out of hedges."

Two youths have been prosecuted, two reprimanded and one given a final warning after previous incidents.