NEIGHBOURS have hit back at a York single parent who says vandals are targeting her home. They say her family is a magnet for trouble.

Jeanette Bennett, 35, says she is suffering a string of vandal attacks at her council house in Greenwood Grove, Foxwood, where she has had windows smashed, paint thrown at her door and food daubed on her external walls.

But neighbours complain that she sparked the trouble by confronting a group of youths who have since terrorised the street and kept residents living in fear.

One resident, who asked not to be named, told the Evening Press: "The trouble that she has stirred up has repercussions for us all in the street - but we will not be intimidated."

The resident said trouble flared almost a year ago when youths, led by Jeanette's friend, Guy Schofield, 18, who often visits the house, squared up to another group in the street in a row over alleged harassment.

Guy told the Evening Press today he admits "bringing a few friends down" to "deal with" some other youths last August.

But he said there had been little trouble since then and the groups have settled their differences.

"At the end of the day other people have got their own views, but there's not one person in this street that can say this is all my fault, because it isn't," says Jeanette, who has lived in the street for six years with her three children.

"I'm just an easy target because I have disabilities. I just want it all to stop. I want them to leave me alone."

Jeanette, who comes from Harrogate, is now asking to be re-housed in another area.

A spokeswoman for York Police confirmed that a spate of incidents involving youths, including stone throwing, smashed windows and vandalism had been reported in the last week.

She said that inquiries were continuing into a vandalism attack on Ms Bennett's house when paint was thrown at her front door and a window was broken.

Updated: 10:32 Monday, July 28, 2003