TEENAGE yobs are putting lives at risk by hitting golf balls off the top of Helsby Hill.

But the youngsters may have met their match after off-duty police constable Ian Weatherall and a band of pensioners confronted three male suspects on the hill.

Balls have been fired at several homes in the Sandringham Avenue area of Helsby on Monday and Wednesday, smashing glass and damaging roofs.

But four elderly residents, in their 60s and 70s, joined off-duty officer PC Weatherall in setting off up the hill on Wednesday evening after spotting the possible culprits.

A leading cross country runner, PC Weatherall gave chase to one of the males, who said he was from Ellesmere Port, but let him go when he swung a golf club around his head. The residents told the other two that hitting golf balls off the hill was dangerous but had no right to detain them when they wandered off.

PC Weatherall said: 'I live under the hill. I was informed there was this problem. I went up with some of the residents who are pretty public-spirited. We had quite a posse. We parked the car as far up as the road as we could and we came across these lads with golf clubs.'

PC Weatherall said it was difficult to handle the situation with no police radio or mobile phone to call for back-up. 'As a result of what the residents have done, along with yourselves, it will hopefully stop the problem. I think we gave them a bit of a fright.'

The group may be able to identify some of the group after looking at photographs of known offenders. They also managed to recover golf clubs and a bag on which DNA is present.

Residents believe it's a miracle no-one has been hurt. Retail manager Gary Dawber and wife Julie heard a deafening bang about 10pm on Monday and discovered a golf ball had smashed through the roof of their house. Another ball had become embedded in their conservatory and yet another was in the garden.

Mr Dawber, who has children James, seven, and Louise, 10, said: 'One of them was only three feet from my daughter's bedroom window. It could have been pretty nasty. They must have fallen about 400 feet and came down at a hell of a speed.'

Mr Dawber is relieved that his children, who had been playing in his back garden until 9.30pm, were inside when the balls struck.

He has since been in touch with the National Trust, who manage the hill, and they have stepped up patrols as well as providing a mobile number so he could can alert them of troublemakers.

Laurence Lloyd, who lives in Sandringham Avenue, said one golf ball went into his planter and another ended up down the back steps on the same evening.

'It must have missed the windows by inches,' said Mr Lloyd. 'We have not had any damage but a couple of the neighbours have. They are not very happy.'

'Some of the semi-detached properties on the corner have also been peppered with golf balls. It was all on Monday night. I was up until 11.20pm, which was when the last one probably came over.'

He said two golf balls were found on the main road and another two ended up by the Methodist Church.

Ed Wilkinson suffered a hole in his house roof caused by one of the stray balls which missed his bedroom window by inches.

He said: 'It sounds like they have gone up the hill with a bucket of golf balls and tried to hit them as far as possible.'

Pip Pritchard, owns Sandfield Golf Driving Range, at Bridge Trafford, from where it appears the youngsters have stolen the balls because those recovered are imprinted with his company name.

He described what was going on as 'dangerous' but said there was little he could do. 'They pick them up off the range and use them on the golf course. They also come on at night when the place is locked up. They don't think about the consequences.'

'It's costing me money because I'm losing golf balls.'

Cheshire police spokesman Ian Cuthbertson said there were three incidents on Monday and eight on Wednesday. On both occasions official police patrols went up Helsby Hill but were unable to apprehend anybody.