A FAMILY are living in fear of their lives after being subjected to a series of vicious and seemingly unprovoked attacks. One afternoon Esam Ahmed, clutching his seven-month-old baby girl, opened his front door to a hail of bottles thrown

Ben McPartland

A FAMILY are living in fear of their lives after being subjected to a series of vicious and seemingly unprovoked attacks.

One afternoon Esam Ahmed, clutching his seven-month-old baby girl, opened his front door to a hail of bottles thrown by a gang of teenage yobs.

The missiles whizzed just past the baby's head and smashed into pieces inside the house in Harmood Street, Chalk Farm.

The attack on April 7 came just days after Mr Ahmed's 14-year-old son had two fingers broken when he was punched and kicked in the street - apparently by the same gang.

Mr Ahmed said: "I thank god the bottle missed my daughter because it would have killed her.

"When they started throwing the bottles, I fell over on the floor and the baby fell with me.

"It happened so quickly. They were trying to get into the house. One of them tried to smash a bottle on my head. I called 999 but they arrived too late. What will happen next? Someone will be killed."

Later that night, the family received death threats via various calls made in the early hours.

The 14-year-old son was also sent a chilling text message at 4am, which was seen by the Ham&High. Possibly referring to a potential knife attack, it read: "Look, man is coming with the mac and what happened today was just a warning. Don't **** about or I will keep coming back."

Mr Ahmed suffered a slipped disc when he fell and was taken to the Royal Free for treatment.

Since then, he and his three sons have been holed up in their home, too scared to venture out. They have no idea why they have been targeted by the thugs.

"The police said to me, 'Don't open your door and don't go out', but we are like prisoners in our own home," said Mr Ahmed.

"It makes me very insecure. I have asked the police to call me and I can come and identify them because we are the only ones who saw it."

He believes the yobs were members of a notorious Queen's Crescent gang.

Haverstock councillor Jill Fraser said residents now treated Queen's Crescent as a no-go area because of the gangs plaguing the area.

She said: "The situation is really bad. Every night there is a disturbance of some kind.

"The shopkeepers are in despair. We need extra resources otherwise someone will get killed before we get any action."

A spokesman for Camden Police has appealed for anyone with information on the attacks to come forward.

He added: "A 16-year-old youth was arrested on the evening of the assault and has been bailed to a date in May pending further enquiries."

If you have any information, you can call Camden police on 020-7404 1212 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

ben.mcpartland@hamhigh.co.uk