Police chief: Yobs forced me to move home

**4me2** · 23rd February 2008

Police chief: Yobs forced me to move home

Last Updated: 6:20am GMT 22/02/2008

A police chief has admitted that he was forced to move house by youths hanging around outside his home.

Nervous: Supt Wayne Mawson

Supt Wayne Mawson, who is in his 40s, said that he decided to leave because he did not want to confront the teenagers sitting on the wall of his property in Hackney, east London.
The officer, the head of operations in Haringey, north London, said that the youths had made him nervous about returning from work. Supt Mawson confessed that he had given in to them.
The Metropolitan Police high-flyer, who will earn about �70,000 a year, said: "I gave in to them because it was either that or start challenging them.
"My quality of life has improved massively since then."
Supt Mawson made the admission during a neighbourhood watch meeting in Crouch End, north London, as he highlighted the crucial role that safer neighbourhood teams play.
"They are not only about the big stuff, but also about looking after situations like this, serving the everyday needs of our community," he said.
Supt Mawson also warned that a terrorist attack was likely to happen again.
He said: "An attack will happen again in London. The big trials show us that there are people in Haringey involved in the terrorism world.
"It's not about scaring people. It's about raising awareness and making the borough as safe as we can. It's impossible to stereotype a terrorist, so we have to be alert to all possibilities."
Last month, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said that she was too scared to walk in London alone after dark.
Asked whether she would go out by herself at night in Hackney, she told a Sunday newspaper: "No, why would I do that? But I never would have done, at any point in my life.
"I just don't think it's a thing that people do. I wouldn't walk around at midnight. I'm fortunate that I don't have to do so."
Supt Mawson's admission comes amid concern about increasing violence by teenage gangs
Last week, a court heard how a father of two was kicked unconscious after asking a group of youths to be quiet outside his home in Maltby, South Yorkshire.
Gary Yeomans, 44, said that he was lucky to be alive following the attack that left him seriously ill in hospital. Last August, Garry Newlove, a father of three, was kicked to death by a gang of youths outside his home in Warrington, Cheshire, after he confronted them about vandalism.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...2/nyobs122.xml