I visited Britain’s ‘roughest estate’ where yobs rip live pigeons apart – from the first second I was terrified

RESIDENTS in a suburb branded the roughest in Britain say crazed yobs rip open pigeons and make locals feel like they're in "war-torn Ukraine".

Knife-wielding ten-year-old's roam the streets and have wreaked havoc across the West Midlands area for the past three years, some say.

The misery in Blakenall Heath, Walsall, has seen the area become a "no-go zone" for police as their squad cars get pelted with bricks.

Last August, a 13-year-old boy was also left permanently blind after being stabbed in the eye outside a fish and chip shop.

One local resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It has got to the point where we are scared to leave our homes even in the daytime.

"The place has just rapidly declined into almost a state of lawlessness since the pandemic.

"Before then we did have issues but not to the scale we are seeing now. It's like a war-zone out there at times.

"It's just diabolical - but that's Blakenall for you. You just don't go out after 3pm."

The area was the focus of a recent YouTube video that saw the presenter discover a flattened dead rat in a children's play park.

The UK Explored channel, which gives tours of cities and towns across the country, said of the estate: "The moment I walked on to Dawson Street a woman told me to 'F off'.

"It felt dangerous, it smelt dangerous and I was happy to move on."

With over 400 crimes a month committed, according to UKCrimeStats, the presenter said Blakenall Heath is "certainly one of the most dangerous estates in the country".

Local resident Andy Bloxham, 38, said the video made the area look worse than it is.

But he warned: "There's no denying it's rough as anything.

"If anything these gangs see being named Britain's roughest estate as a badge of honour."

Locals previously said their lives were blighted by violence and anti-social behaviour.

It followed a string of incidents including arson attacks, fly-tipping, thefts, assaults, racist attacks and vandalism.

One shopkeeper added:"They come in and steal eggs and then use those eggs to pelt the shop.

"We get racially abused too, we've just had enough."

Independent Blakenall ward councillor Pete Smith previously said "its like something from war-torn Ukraine."

He added: "There was also this poor pigeon that had its head ripped off outside a shop before they pulled its wings off and just ripped it to pieces."

West Midlands Police brought in a 48-hour dispersal order for Blakenall after violence flared on November 2 and youths pelted police cars with bricks.

In July, in nearby Bloxwich, a man was knifed and Bailey Atkinson, also local to the area, was stabbed to death in Walsall in January.