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Disgrace: Anguish of pensioner targeted by yobs
A FRAIL pensioner has told how she was urinated on and sworn at - after challenging youngsters who gather regularly outside her Sheffield council flat and commit anti-social behaviour.
Jean Gausden, aged 75, who has mobility problems due to injured knees and hips, claims her life is being made a misery by teenagers who do not live at the block on Earldom Drive, Pitsmoor, but manage to get in by climbing onto a first-floor balcony, bypassing external doors.
She told The Star she has suffered repeated problems with mobs of youngsters.
But police and Sheffield Homes' anti-social behaviour unit say no action has been taken due to insufficient evidence.
Miss Gausden, a retired factory worker, said incidents have included:
n Her being left "soaked" when two boys turned and urinated on her because she challenged them for using the stairwell as a toilet.
* Youths having sex in the communal areas of the flats.
* Groups of youngsters hanging around the block smoking and drinking.
She also claims youngsters have smashed plant pots outside her flat, where she has lived for 38 years.
The pensioner said: "It's terrible. The youths get in by climbing up, getting on each others' shoulders and hauling themselves over the railings onto the balcony.
"It's been different groups of them over the years but the problem is continuing and it's getting me down.
"They hang about smoking, drinking and even having sex with each other in the public areas."
Describing the shocking incident last autumn in which she was urinated on, Miss Gausden said: "I was walking up the stairs and there were two lads standing there urinating.
"I said to them, 'You filthy swines.' They turned and aimed at me, leaving me soaking. Then they swore at me and told me to get back to my flat. This used to be such a lovely place."
Miss Gausden, whose mobility problems began when she suffered a fracture to one of her knees and were compounded by a fall which damaged her hips, added: "The police and Sheffield Homes have been unable to take any action - but it could be sorted out by blocking off the open landing so the youths cannot climb in."
Sgt Matt Wooding, of South Yorkshire Police's Burngreave, Firth Park and Shiregreen Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "We are sorry Miss Gausden is experiencing problems with local youths acting in an anti-social manner.
"Officers have made regular contact and have spent considerable time attempting to resolve the issues Miss Gausden has reported to the police.
"The SNT is providing support including regular contact and providing extra police patrols in the area where she lives.
"We are concerned regarding her vulnerability and we are working in partnership with other agencies including Sheffield Homes, Age Concern, Sheffield PCT and the District Adult Protection Unit, to offer support and reassurance to Miss Gausden. Police take all reports of anti-social behaviour very seriously and robust action will be taken against anyone caught."
A spokeswoman for Miss Gausden's landlord, Sheffield Homes, added: "We take all cases of anti-social behaviour very seriously and have taken appropriate action at this block.
"We work very closely with Miss Gausden and will continue to do so."
Anyone with information about anti-social behaviour can contact police on 0114 252 3994.
Sex, drink and drugs on the stairwells
HEADY smells of cannabis, urine and cleaning fluid hit the senses when negotiating the gloomy stairwell at Earldom Drive flats which has become notorious as a hang-out for anti-social teenagers.
Each morning, residents say, Sheffield Homes staff have to mount a clean-up operation after the night before - the yobs having left behind a trail of vomit, urine and even excrement. Outside the block, a grass embankment is strewn with old beer and soft drinks cans and there is smashed glass on the footpaths.
The number of youths who gather at the block varies from just two or three to large groups of up to a dozen whose members have included murdered teenage S3 gang member Tarek Chaiboub, who lived a few streets away.
People living at the flats confirmed Tarek, shot dead two years ago in Burngreave, was regularly seen there.
His GTK graffiti tag - which stands for 'Global Terror Kid' - has not yet been cleaned off a light on the top floor, at the opposite end from Jean Gausden's flat.
Residents' efforts to clean up and decorate the area with pot plants and hanging baskets have been vandalised by the youths in the past.
Attempts have been made to brighten-up the block by Sheffield Homes, too, which has repainted the windows and some timber-clad walls, and has fitted a new door entry system to try to prevent yobs from getting into communal areas of the block.
But it hasn't worked. They just climb on to the landing above the entrance door, which has an open frontage with railings.
And residents - which even include a city centre bouncer - are fed up of them and calling for better security and action to stop the gang gaining access.
Doorman Samadar Osman, aged 22, said: "The kids come here and drink, smoke drugs, have sex and play loud music into the early hours of the morning. I've reported it to the police 20 times but they don't come out to send the youths on their way.
"Every morning, there is vomit, urine and worse, which has to be cleaned up."
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "Most nights there are kids hanging around in the stairwell, smoking, throwing up and urinating. What happened to Jean wouldn't be the first time they've urinated on someone. They've done it to me before from over the bannisters.
"They don't give you too much trouble if you talk to them but Jean yells at them because she can't stand what they are doing. She didn't deserve what happened."
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