Thugs burn out home of former garda

Fear and anger among residents in the Ashbrook estate area of Navan emerged in the past week following an arson attack on Thursday night, which destroyed the home of a former garda. The attack came amid claims that residents in the area are being terrorised by a small number of young thugs who 'are wreaking havoc in the community and who have terrorised residents into silence'. Thursday night"s incident, which has been fiercely condemned by local residents and public representatives, has led to calls for the barring of the culprits from the area and the speedy establishment of a joint policing committee in the area. The house targeted was broken into late on Thursday night when the owner was out and a number of fires were lit in different locations in the house. Neighbours raised the alarm and Navan Fire Service fought the blaze, but the house was badly damaged and the owner, Andy Gillick, has not been able to return to the house. According to Supt Michael Devine, Gardai are making good progress in their investigations and are hopeful of early arrests. Andy Gillick said that there had been ongoing problems in the estate. 'There are decent people living here, but there is an element who are causing all the trouble,' he said. 'I wasn"t at home when it happened, which was lucky, because I could be in a box now if I had been there,' he added. 'All my personal belongings are gone. The clothes that I had on are all that was left,' he said. Mr Gillick has been fixed up with temporary accommodation but said it was dreadful to see such destruction. 'It is an ongoing problem for people living here. Last March, all the windows at the front of my house were broken and my jeep vandalised,' he said. Mr Gillick said that houses and cars in the estate were sprayed with paint the weekend before last and there were continuing problems, almost always caused by the same people. Cllr Joe Reilly condemned the attack by what he described as 'antisocial, anti-community thugs' and expressed his relief that nobody was injured. He said the owner of the house had expressed his concerns to him recently regarding the behaviour of young thugs in the area, following the vandalism of cars and homes. 'Not for the first time I contacted Navan Town Council regarding this and other residents" concerns. I asked them to liaise with the Gardai regarding my concerns. There is a small group of four to five local teenagers that have caused havoc in the area of Ashbrook over recent times,' the Sinn Fein councillor said. 'Local residents feel fearful and ashamed of this antisocial behaviour in their estate. Navan Town Council, Meath County Council and the Gardai appear to be helpless in the face of such thuggery and intimidation,' he went on. Cllr Reilly said the attacks happened at a time when a number of local residents of Ashbrook had come together to support people with disabilities in their area in the maintaining of an area specially designed to cater for wheelchair-bound people. 'The people who caused such damage to their area do not represent the community of Ashbrook. I call on Navan Town Council and Meath County Council to immediately move against these people and have them barred from council-owned property 'I further call on the Gardai to protect this venerable community by increasing their presence in the area and having a quick response plan to deal with any further trouble in the area.' Cllr Reilly said that Sinn Fein had campaigned for the convening of the Joint Policing Committees and Thursday night"s events highlighted the need for such bodies to meet immediately so that the communities, statutory agencies and Gardai can respond to such attacks. Cllr Jim Holloway said it was an absolute scandal that the housing stock of Meath County Council and Navan Town Council was being destroyed and burned to the ground. 'It is equally outrageous that the people who live there are being terrorised by a small band of dysfunctional people who wreak havoc on the community, who terrorise the residents into silence, who are well-known to both the council and the Gardai and are still at large, and free to wreck a community.' He said the people who live in Ashbrook were in fear of their lives and were afraid to give evidence. 'It is hardly surprising that potential witnesses are intimidated when threats of burning you out are what they are told, face-to-face, by their intimidators. It is irresponsible that we ask residents to live in houses without any security. Almost all dwellings are without secure boundary walls. It is a shame that when a report was sent to Government for a grant to restore this small estate, it was rejected,' said Cllr Holloway. 'This community must no longer be abandoned. No-one can tolerate any longer what is going on,' he said. Local election candidate, David Browne, who lives in Clogherboy, said the incident was totally unacceptable. 'Residents are very angry. This isn"t just antisocial behaviour. It is destroying people"s lives.' Mr Browne said it was at least the third arson attack in the area in the past year. 'The council and the Gardai have to get a handle on it,' he added.