A GANG of about 40 youths is terrorising a housing estate in Rochester making residents almost prisoners in their own homes.

Neighbours in Havisham Close, on the Dickens Estate, said their lives were being ruined by youngsters who hang around the back of the Co-op store in Barnaby Terrace until the early hours, drinking and swearing.

Some of the yobs are as young as 10 and are verbally and physically abusive. Many residents are now too scared to go out at night in case they are attacked or their homes are burgled or vandalised.

Over the past month the vandals have thrown bricks at windows, eggs at a couple who asked them to be quiet and kept neighbours awake until 4am with their shouting. They also litter the streets with empty beer cans, alcohol bottles and condoms.

One resident, Peter Jackson, has installed CCTV cameras to protect his property after a spate of burglaries on the estate. He has also replaced wooden gates at the back of his garden with metal gates to deter would-be intruders.

He said: "I'm just trying to protect my house. We are waiting for a full-scale fight. There is always the danger of one of them attacking one of us and it's got to be stopped."