OAP hits out at attacks 'ratbags'

Brenda Hill, aged 78, is so fed up of the attacks she has resorted to leaving notes in the windscreen telling the "ratbags" what she thinks of them. Mrs Hill, of Wollaston, Stourbridge, says she was driven to vent her anger after repeated complaints to police failed to stop the vandals who have struck twice in the last three weeks.

The yobs jumped on her car, denting the bonnet and roof and also smashed its windscreen.

The widow, whose late husband Jeffrey was a policeman, responded by leaving a note addressed "to the ratbags who keep wrecking my car". It continues: "My wish for you may my troubles be yours, may you have double the trouble when you are 78."

Another note reads: "This car is my lifeline. The wheels are my legs. You have cost me hospital appointments and visits to the doctors."

She says the constant attacks means she can no longer afford the £75 insurance excess payment needed to cover the cost of repairs.

Former hairdresser Mrs Hill said today: "The vandalism has meant I haven't been able to get out of my house to go shopping or to the doctors to get prescriptions. They are ratbags and we are living in this totally lawless society where these people can just get away with it.

"It has got to the stage where I have done all I could in terms of reporting the vandalism and I have reached the end of my tether.

"I first reported this two-and-a-half years ago but all the police said was, 'We will give you a crime number'. They should be out on the beat or in their cars patrolling the area."

Mrs Hill says officers have visited her home to take statements about the latest attack on Friday. Mrs Hill added she has four slipped discs in her back and is forced to wear a surgical belt. Sgt Dave Rennison today said high-visibility patrols have been stepped up in the area.