We live on hellhole estate once home to notorious killer… terrified pensioners board up windows in fear of petrol bombs
ABANDONED settees and mattresses are strewn across the area, rubbish is piled up behind makeshift gates and windows are boarded up as residents fear for their lives.
Macaulay Street, in the heart of Grimsby’s West Marsh, has become a lawless neighbourhood with a string of violent acts over recent months – including two stabbings, one of which was fatal.
Residents are afraid to go out at night amid reports of drug dealers and fights between rival gangs, and some have chosen to boards their windows to guard against violent attacks and even petrol bombs.
Figures release this week revealed the district of Grimsby East Marsh & Port, which borders the estate, has the lowest average annual household income in England and Wales of just £22,200 – more than £10,000 below the national average.
Both areas frequently rank near the top of North East Lincolnshire’s crime statistics, with 3,021 incidents reported in West Marsh between December 2021 and November 2022. It also recorded the greatest number of burglaries in the region two years ago.
Tai Wass, 32, moved from Cambridge to the estate – once home to Soham child killer Ian Huntley, who live across a number of local bedsits – and says it was the “worst mistake of my life”.
“It’s horrible,” he says. “Since I moved here in January there has been a murder, a stabbing at one end of the street, someone arrested with a bladed article at the other end.
“I have had armed police running through my door. It’s not a nice experience.
“There have been killings and machete attacks. It’s not safe. There needs to be more for teenagers. They’re bored and get into trouble.”
At one home – which has boards over its ground floor windows, a security light and CCTV camera on the outside wall – a retired couple answer the door.
Just 100 metres from their house is the corner shop opposite which a man was stabbed to death in March.
“We have lived here over 50 years and brought our children up here,” they say.
“We have boarded the windows up because we just want privacy.”
Petrol bombs at 4am
Housing in the Macaulay Street area consists of mainly low-cost rentals, with a high turnover of tenants and an average stay of six months.
As a result, unwanted mattresses and furniture, often flea and bed bug-infested, are abandoned while tenants move in and out.
A woman aged 31, who did not want to be named, was walking her two pit bull dogs in the area, where she has lived for ten years, when The Sun visited.
“It’s f***ing s***. It’s full of drug dealers, smack and fights. Houses get burned down,” she says.
“I was asleep one night three months ago. I heard a bang at 4am. I could see a blaze.
“I came out of the house and there were explosions a few doors down. Someone had thrown a petrol bomb through the window.
“It was a revenge attack I later heard. I s*** myself living here.”
Full-time dad Chris Hayes, 34, won’t let his children out on their own.
“There was a riot on the park about a month ago and that’s where they usually play,” he says.
“It’s a drug area now and the police are not doing enough.”
Pensioners ‘prisoners’ in homes
Allan Jackson, 77, is part of the Macaulay Area Action Group and runs pensioners bingo and Tai Chi at St Hugh’s Community Centre.
“It’s not the area it was,” he says.
“Drugs and alcohol are a big issue and the violence that goes with it.
“A number of landlords don’t live in the area and when tenants leave they abandon their furniture in the street. The council won’t take it.
“Such a shame – people are boarding up their windows while living in them.
“There’s no youth club in the area and a lot of anti-social behaviour. Older people feel threatened. I don’t know what the answer is. God only knows.
“We need some effective policing. We don’t see police here very often.
“It has been a really bad year with the stabbings. Elderly people are scared. They daren’t come out of their homes, especially at night.
“They are prisoners. We had to change Friday night bingo to the afternoon because no one would come out after dark.”
Cannabis farm
Retiree John Craddock, 66, moved to the area six months ago from Hertfordshire.
When he moved in he discovered that there was no mains electricity. The house he had just bought had been a cannabis farm and the police ripped the electrics out when they raided it.
He is not put off though, telling us: “It’s predominantly a rental area with lots of young families who keep moving. There are drink and drugs in the area.
“There are incidents and noise but things quickly go back to normal. People around here are friendly. More friendly than in the South.”
Drug gangs
Debby Whydell, 52, is a hairdresser who owns Sudz around the corner in James Street.
She says: “I don’t live in the area but have been running my hairdressers here for the last 23 years.
“My customers were shocked about the stabbings. The violence is usually drug-related.
“Most people try their best to get on and live their lives. It is scary that people are running around with knives.
“We used to get PCs walking the beat, but not anymore.”
Another man walking down Macaulay Street won’t give his name for fear of reprisals, but says he is in his forties and has lived in the area all his life, apart from a spell in prison for GBH.
“It’s s*** and it’s getting worse,” he says.
“The younger generation are getting lighter prison sentences and when they get there, it’s like a holiday camp – they don’t mind going in.
“They have nothing to lose and no one cares about them. Prison is not a deterrent. I went to prison – it was like a holiday camp.”
A spokesman for North East Lincolnshire Council said: “We are aware of the dumping of furniture and mattresses on the West Marsh Estate.
“We remove any that have been dumped on public land and prosecute offenders for fly-tipping where possible.
“Any dumped or left abandoned on private land is the responsibility of the landowner but we can serve notices to have it removed if it is an eyesore or a health hazard.”