A MOTHER claims neighbours from hell have made her family's life a misery since the day they moved into their dream home.

Debra Morgan, 36, her husband, Owen, 33, and their three daughters, Samantha, 18, Leanne, 16, and Jessica, nine, moved from Upton to Manor Lane in Lower Kinnerton in June last year - and she says village life has proved to be a nightmare.

She claims her family faces an almost-daily torrent of verbal abuse and is calling on the police and Chester City Council for help.

'We always wanted to live in a house like this, somewhere we could keep our horses', she said. 'We wanted to stay here until all the children had finished school, but now we just want to move again.

'Before we came here, we lived in Upton for six years and we never experienced anything like this.'

Mrs Morgan claims that bricks are often thrown into the horses' field. Once, a firework was set off next to the stables. But she says the main problem is constant name-calling and verbal abuse aimed at Samantha and Leanne.

'Because the girls are unhappy, it makes me unhappy,' she said. `I often go out into the field and bricks and beer bottles have been thrown in while the horses were there.

'I worry that something more serious will happen and I am concerned about the safety of the animals. We did have six horses but now we have sold three of them.'

She went on: 'It started from the day we moved in. Some of the youngsters from the village came to introduce themselves and seemed perfectly nice.

'But then one of the young lads said that someone from the village was going around saying they were going to 'kick Samantha's head in'. Somebody who didn't even know us had already decided they didn't like us.

'It all escalated from there.' Mrs Morgan says Leanne, an Upton High School pupil, was initially friends with teenagers in the village.

'She stopped hanging around with them because they were playing pranks on an elderly disabled man,' she said.

'But then they turned on her too. When she rides her moped down the lane, the girls stand out in front of her and shout abuse at her.' On one occasion, Leanne and another village teenager were arrested for assault - both agreed to withdraw their complaints about each other.

Mrs Morgan has reported the feud to the police and the council - some of her tormentors are Chester and District Housing Trust tenants. The trust's tenancy action team has visited Mrs Morgan and told her they are investigating her complaints.

She said: 'The police don't seem to believe me. They asked me what I have done to provoke this kind of behaviour - once they told me they didn't have the staff to come out to me.

'They said to keep a record of all the incidents and maybe then they can put a harassment order on them, but that was back in March.

'They say they can't arrest anybody without any evidence and have told me to get a security camera. But that would cost £5,000 and I would rather spend that money on a deposit for a new house.

'If the police don't do anything, I don't know who else we can turn to.'

Mrs Morgan, who is part-way through a teaching degree, says she has approached a solicitor, who told her the costs of bringing civil action against her neighbours would go through the roof.

She added: 'This last year has been so stressful - I want it all to stop. I just want to live quietly and keep myself to myself.'

David Rooke, director of operations at Chester and District Housing Trust, said: 'All complaints received at the trust are taken extremely seriously and receive the utmost conf identiality.

'Each case of anti-social behaviour referred to the Tenancy Action Team is investigated by a specialist housing off icer.'

Chester city councillor for Dodleston Ward, Mia Jones, said although she does not represent Lower Kinnerton, she has been contacted by Mrs Morgan.

'She is just out of my area,' said Cllr Jones. 'But I was willing to help her and point her in the right direction. She was clearly very upset.'

Cllr Jones, who is also on the board of the Housing Trust, said: 'If it transpires that anybody has breached their tenancy terms then action will be taken.'

A Chester Constabulary spokesman confirmed the force has dealt with complaints from Mrs Morgan but was unable to say at this time whether it is considering an harassment order.