By Beth Robson

What has been described as a "frenzied attack by a knife-wielding teenager" has sent shockwaves through a usually quiet and trouble-free street in Deal.

Police were called to Bruce Close last Thursday evening (January 5) at 8.45pm after witnesses say the 17-year-old girl had damaged vehicles, stabbed her own hand and had attempted to attack a carer.

Landscape gardener Nick Atkins’s van bonnet and windscreen is now covered in pock marks and scratches where he says the girl repeatedly struck the vehicle with a bread knife.

He said: "My wife and I were alerted to loud bangs and screaming outside our house."

Mr Atkins ran to the front door where, he told the Mercury, he saw her running a large bread knife through her hand and over her arm, shouting that she wanted to harm herself.

The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, lives in a home for youngsters with learning difficulties that had been opened up by two businessmen in Bruce Close early last year.

The owners have not responded to the Mercury’s offer to comment.

For the full story, see the East Kent Mercury this week.