The ordeal being endured by a Bradford couple and their disabled daughter at their specially-adapted Allerton home is an appalling indictment of a society in which some people seem to take a cruel pleasure in making the lives of others a misery.

The Redshaw family clearly have had a difficult life. Mr Redshaw has a history of heart disease and is registered disabled. Daughter Lisa-Marie, 13, was born with disabilities and has recently had to have part of a leg amputated.

They are the sort of people who could justifiably expect to be treated with care and consideration by those who live around them. That, indeed, is what would happen in a civilised society. Unfortunately there are people around who are strangers to civilised values - among them the yobs who have been targeting the Redshaws, taunting Lisa-Marie, repeatedly burgling the family's bungalow and smashing its windows.

The Redshaws' dream of starting a new life in a quiet area, in a bungalow specially designed for their needs, has been turned into a nightmare by thugs and vandals who have left them feeling like prisoners in a home they have had to turn into a fortress.

No-one should be expected to live like that in a Bradford suburb, behind high walls, padlocked gates and barred windows. It is up to the local community to rally round the beleaguered family, show them that they are not alone - and give the police any information they might have about the identity of the youths who are driving them to the end of their tether.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.