FAMILIES are living in fear of vigilantes who mistakenly believe a registered sex offender lives there.

People on Malvern Way, Winsford, say attacks on a property in their neighbourhood must stop, because the man in question moved out nearly six months ago. Their plea comes after an attack on the offender's former home last Tuesday morning which drove the present occupiers away.

A neighbour, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Chronicle the attack shook everybody, especially the couple who now live at the address and have been wrongly accused.

She said: 'There were four men with baseball bats. I was scared of them but more fearful for my husband. He went out and did his damndest to get them away from the house, saying the sex offender doesn't live there any more, but they were swearing and shouting.

'It's a shame for the young couple that moved in - they've got two small children and have done all this work on their house and then been scared out.

'If we hadn't had that person living next door to us I don't think we would have had any of these problems.'

The neighbour said the attack is upsetting to all concerned as it resurrects painful memories. 'We didn't know he was a sex offender and when we did find out the council said it couldn't do anything about it. Our lives weren't nice because of that house and who was in it - I wouldn't even have my friends' children here if they were in.

'This is the first big attack since they left,' she added. 'It's the house, not the people in it. It has a stigma and it is that we want to break. It's got to me so much I wish they'd blow the house up.'