A COUPLE have vowed not to be pushed out of their own street by gangs of youths they say have made their lives a misery for years.

Ian Matthew Ralls's frustration at continual harassment and abuse boiled over when he confronted teenagers with a broken, unloaded air rifle outside his home late on April 1.

The final straw for the tax employee was a youth's football hitting his house after 10pm that day, while a group of teenagers disturbed his six-year-old granddaughter's sleep by talking and playing in the street.

His actions led to police firearms officers sealing off Cosmo Avenue, the Tang Hall cul-de-sac where he and his wife have lived for many years, and landed him in the dock at York Crown Court.

But the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, sympathised with him and let him walk free from court.

"It must be very annoying having a gang of youths playing outside your door late at night when you are trying to relax and when you have got concerns about your family. There are plenty of parks to go to, but they were playing outside your door," he said.

"There was nothing you could do about it and you snapped."

Ralls, 47, who is epileptic, pleaded guilty to affray, and was ordered to do 200 hours' community punishment and pay £700 prosecution costs.

Prosecutor Susan Kerr said about six teenagers were talking to each other or on their phones in the street at 10pm and a couple of 12-year-old children were also nearby playing football. Their ball hit Ralls's house and he came out shouting.

His wife Barbara also came out to speak to them before Ralls twice came out with the air rifle, which did not have ammunition.

He later told police he was trying "to put the wind up" the youths and that he had had something to drink.

Outside court Mrs Ralls, who has arthritis, said the incident on April 1 was the latest in years of intimidation, abuse and harassment by local families and youths. At times, it makes her too scared to go out of her front door alone.

"It's been horrendous," she said. "They don't like us because we stick up for ourselves. We know neighbours have had problems with the other kids, but they don't do anything. They are frightened of them."

The couple have experienced difficulties for most of their 12 or 13 years in the house, which they own. But matters escalated when younger families moved into the area.

"We like the house. It is handy for school, handy for the shops and handy for my mother. We are determined not to be pushed out," she said.

The couple had tried getting police help in the past, but officers had either not come, or when they did, told the Ralls they could do nothing.

Updated: 10:11 Thursday, June 02, 2005