Police are investigating a spate of anonymous threatening letters hand-delivered to houses in Bolton Woods.

Around nine letters have been sent to different households in Bolton Hall Road complaining about noise and warning residents of violent repercussions if nothing is done about it.

Most of them accuse youngsters of making a 'racket' and one of them threatens to send 'nasty people' to the house to sort it out while another threatens to smash windows.

The letters began arriving around three to four weeks ago and PC Steve Middleton, beat manager for Bolton Woods, is appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

He said: "The residents are truly very worried and of course the police are very concerned. We want to get to the bottom of this straight away. If anybody has any complaints about noise in their area they should come to us and not take the situation into their own hands. I have never come across something like this before on such a large scale. It is most unusual."

Most of the letters have been written on ordinary white paper in child-like handwriting with spelling mistakes and abusive language.

Donna and David Jowett, who live on the street with their four children aged two to nine, have had two letters, one threatening to put their windows through and the other threatening to send "some nasty people" round.

They have also had offensive words daubed on their front wall and back door, had varnish thrown at their front door and received home-delivered pizzas and curries they have not ordered.

Mrs Jowett, 30, said the harassment was making her life a misery and they were planning to move out of the street because of it.

She said: "I'm scared because our five-year-old daughter sleeps in the front room upstairs and if they do start putting bricks through the windows they could hit her."

Mavis Wheeler, 57, had a note pushed through her letterbox just hours after her ten-year-old grandson called round.

The letter said: "I followed your kid home last night and I'm telling you keep im (sic) up your end.

"The ******* racket he and a friend was making was beond (sic) a joke (football, shouting swearing).

"Any more and some very nasty people will pay you a visit.

"One warning only. Got it.''

Mrs Wheeler said: "At first I just thought it was an idiot but then when I thought about it and realised he must have been followed here I was very worried.

"People are annoyed about it and very worried. One young woman who got a letter was absolutely terrified and says she's thinking about moving out because of it.

"We don't know whether the threats are serious or not but we've got to take it seriously because whoever it is could just flip."

Mrs Wheeler, who is chairman of Bolton Woods Community Centre and a community governor at Bolton Woods First School, has issued a public challenge for the author of the letters to talk to her about the issue and any concerns they have.

Councillor Phil Thornton (Lab, Shipley East) said: "I think this sort of action is completely unacceptable and if people have complaints they can deal with it through the relevant authorities. It's unacceptable to threaten and intimidate. I'm quite shocked and I'm sure it's causing distress for the residents."

PC Middleton is appealing for the person writing the letters to come forward with any complaints to work through them together. If anybody knows anything about them or has received a letter they should contact him on (01274) 537479.

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