Rossington family in St Leger property face threats to life from local youths

The family in Rossington who have dealt with eggings, destruction of their property and threats of arson say St Leger Homes have not protected them.

A family in a St Leger council property in Rossington have been left afraid to leave their home after receiving constant threats and vandalism from local youths.

Shelly Haslam stated that herself, her husband and her two children have dealt with the abuse daily since moving into their property in April 2020.

She is a full-time carer for her son who is autistic and has another daughter, who she said is “afraid to sleep at night” due to attacks that go on for all hours.

During her time at the property she also lost a baby, which she believes was escalated by the ongoing harrassment.

The family often find themselves completely unable to leave the house due to vandals constantly surrounding the property.

According to Shelly, St Leger Homes, which manages Doncaster’s council properties, stated they could not deal with the vandals as it is unknown whether they live in St Leger properties.

She also claimed that St Leger would not re-home them, leaving a housing swap as the only option.

Shelly said: “It’s every single night, they’ll kick in the door and throw eggs at the house and more. It’s around 30 to 40 kids.

“I just don’t know where to turn next. I could do a housing exchange but I wouldn’t want other people to move in and just have to deal with the same thing.”

South Yorkshire Police are aware of the harassment and have surveillance on the property, which was amplified after harassers threatened to put a firebomb through the mailbox.

Shelly further claimed that the police suggested that the family should have been moved to a safe house due to the ongoing threats.

The family have since been forced to seal their mailbox closed and collect all mail from the sorting office, with postal workers unable to deliver to the house.

Before the mailbox was sealed, it had been torn off its hinges, as well as the front door window being smashed.

The perpetrators have also emptied nearby animal waste bins onto the family’s property.

The Free Press reached out to St Leger Homes, who said: “We take the safety of our tenants very seriously and if we receive reports of threats being made against tenants we will always do everything in our power to help.

“This will include working with the tenant and the police to keep people safe and achieve the best possible outcome. Where appropriate we will also address concerns with the alleged perpetrators.

“If someone wishes to move away from Doncaster we will assist them where we can, however it is not in the gift of St Leger Homes to provide people with housing in other towns.

“We will continue to provide all the support we can to people in this situation and encourage anyone who has concerns regarding threats or anti-social behaviour to speak to us for help.”

The family are currently liaising with a different council hoping to move borough entirely, to escape the harrassment.