Shocking footage shows yobs running riot in Metropole flats in Dover and even smearing own poo on walls
Published: 05:00, 28 January 2023
Shocking footage reveals how unruly teenagers have been running riot in a block of flats - with one even smearing their own poo on the walls.
The yobs have been terrorising the property in Dover town centre for the past three months, leaving some residents desperate to move out.
CCTV also shows them punching and kicking holes in the wall, while others have been putting firework bangers through tenants' letter boxes.
Frustrated leaseholders at the Metropole flats in New Street have forked out about £4,500 for a new CCTV system to be fitted, and police have arrested one teenager.
But the troublemakers do not appear to be deterred.
One vile incident caught on camera shows a teenage boy pooing on the stairs, before using a piece of paper to pick the excrement up and wipe it on the wall.
Another boy below appears to be filming him with his phone, prompting the teen on the stairs to say, while laughing: "Don't you dare. No, you can't do that."
Property manager Steve Davies told KentOnline: "They sat there for a couple of hours and one then poos on the bottom of the stairs.
"Later on they smear it up the wall and the other one urinates on the stairs."
Following the incident in November, Mr Davies says the same two boys came back after Christmas and "started kicking holes in the wall".
"Other vandals have seen these holes and then made them bigger and started pulling the walls apart," he said.
The CCTV shows two youths punching, elbowing and headbutting the wall near the front door to the flats.
One of the yobs staggers backwards after making a dent with his head.
Further footage shows a group of youngsters running out of the building after setting the fire alarm off.
Mr Davies says tenants in the block - which is located above Dover's Wetherspoon pub - have been left fearing what the youngsters will do next.
"Some residents have had firework bangers put through their letter boxes," he said.
"There are women who live here alone and are saying they want to move. I just don't know what more I can do.
"We're in well over £2,000 worth of damage and cleaning now. This means the rent has had to go up.
"The tenants just want to be able to be in their flats and not worry about what is going to happen in the communal halls next."
Mr Davies has reported the vandalism to the police and taken steps to improve security.
"We've got 12 cameras around the building," he said.
"We can only put so many up.
"About four months ago the leaseholders paid about £4,500 for a new CCTV system to be fitted because there had been some issues.
"The vandals don't care though because they know they are not going to get caught."
The front door has a magnetic fob system - but the vandals have discovered they can open it with a forceful kick.
"They're kicking it past the magnets," he said.
"So, we are about to pay another £1,200 for electric sheer bolts for the front door.
"This means a bar will hopefully hold the door in place if they kick it."
Mr Davies says residents called him at the weekend as the group were there again and had been kicking the doors, running up and down the hallways and setting the fire alarm off.
"We're forever replacing fire extinguishers," he said.
"Luckily at the moment they seem to be letting them off outside. The mess they would make if they let them off in the flats would be awful.
"But there is a load missing again now. It's only a split second and it is gone."
A police spokesperson said that on November 10, 2022, they received a report that criminal damage had been caused at the building.
"It was reported the incidents had occurred between October 31 and November 6," they said.
"Following enquiries and viewing of CCTV footage a suspect was identified.
"A 16-year-old was arrested and has since been released on bail while enquiries continue."
The former Metropole Hotel, built in 1895, was converted into 29 flats in 2006.
Yet people living amid the chaos in the Metropole flats in New Street are now facing higher rents, to cover the cost of the damage caused.
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Chantal Weller