It won't be long until an innocent person is killed

POLICE IN WITNESS APPEAL AFTER VICTIM ALSO DRIVEN AT’ IN CITY CENTRE

- JAMES HOLT

ON A CLOUDY summer afternoon, an eerie silence lingers over the Alkrington Moss estate.

The school holidays have just begun and children up and down the country are enjoying the first of many long days of freedom. But on the streets and pathways around the estate, there is barely anyone in sight.

The new playground lies empty, the sound of children playing conspicuously absent among the rows of grey and orange blocks of flats.

People living on the estate, on the outskirts of Middleton, say it has become plagued by anti-social behaviour and drug-dealing gangs, leaving some residents too afraid to walk to the shops, let alone allow their children to play outside.

Last month, an armed gang wearing balaclavas descended on the estate before smashing up a block of flats in The Meadows. People living nearby heard a 'loud bang' as windows were shattered.

Coun Dylan Williams, Rochdale council member for Middleton East, viewed CCTV of the incident and reported seeing three vehicles pull up on nearby Kingsway before 16 men arrived on the scene with 'axes, spades, machetes and other weapons! It is the latest in a string of violent incidents that have left people afraid to leave their own homes. Back in May, two men were arrested after another man was left with serious injuries during a 'disorder' at a block of flats at The Heath.

The drama came just days after three people were injured following a stabbing in the area. In the aftermath of the incident, one mum said her young son came across blood spattered across a pavement just yards from their family home.

Several months later, she worries about the impact it may have had on him.

"He has been quiet since then," the woman said. "He won't play out or walk home from school. It's horrible. I don't feel safe here. The door is always locked."