AN ELDERLY woman is living in fear of a gang of yobs who are attacking her Bridport home.

The frail 84-year-old, who lives in sheltered accommodation at Flaxhayes, has been left terrified and distraught, according to her daughter, Sally Thackham from Beaminster.

Three of Dorothy Barnes' windows were smashed in the latest incident on Tuesday night.

And in a previous attack, what look like BB gun pellets were scattered all down the stairs outside her Flaxhayes Home.

Said Mrs Thackham: "The little plastic balls were put on the stairs with the intention of making her fall. This is premeditated, this is not horseplay, it's an attempt on her health, if not her life.

"She couldn't sleep at all last night, she's terrified to be in her own home. She's been through a war pour soul and was less frightened than she is now.

"She's tiny, six-and-a-half stone, there's no way she can defend herself. People need to know what's going on here."

Mrs Thackham's mother lives in an upstairs flat and the trouble is that the youths can intimidate her from the external staircase without being seen, says Mrs Thackham.

"She's 84, she has a heart condition, osteoporosis, she broke her pelvis two years ago and spent five months in hospital, she's had a compound fracture of her wrist, she's very frail. Something needs to happen to stop this."

Part of the problem, says Mrs Thackham, is that the school bus makes an unscheduled stop outside the sheltered accommodation to let youngsters off.

She said that a local police officer was trying to get that stopped. "We have asked Magna for mother not to be on a top floor but have been told there are people in greater need, but this changes everything."

A spokeswoman for landlords Magna Housing said there had been problems with vandalism in the area and it had been in contact with police to try to resolve the issue.

Magna would also be reviewing the security arrangements and seeing if it was possible to put a doorway to secure the communal stairs, she said.

"The daughter is concerned that the sheltered housing officer is not keeping a check on her mother. We are in contact with the mother. We visit five days a week and if she is in we see her physically to ensure she is OK and on the sixth day check that she is OK through the intercom. The warden service is on hand to give support and she's linked to our Careline so she can call up 24 hours a day."

Insp Alan Jenkins said the area would now be visited by police on every shift and police would be talking to Magna to see if they could do something about the layout to 'design out' crime and prevent youths hanging around the area.

"If we catch someone deliberately putting something down to make someone trip we would definitely take that very seriously. I am working with Magna with a view to trying to identify who the males are so we can speak to their parents."

If the parents turned out to be other Magna tenants they could be in breach of their tenancy, he said. Insp Jenkins also promised to talk to community liaison officer PC Raoul Beaman.