Imran Khan’s family home has been targeted by hooded vandals four times in the last six months
Imran Khan’s family home has been targeted by hooded vandals four times in the last six months
Vandals Throw Bricks At Couple’s Window In Huyton
A dad says his children are “scared to go outside” after their family home was targeted by vandals four times in six months. Imran Khan and his family have had their living room window broken twice since June, and on another occasion the dad-of-four’s car windscreen was smashed.
The first incident took place on June 7 shortly before midnight, and was caught on CCTV. Video footage, shared with the ECHO, appeared to show a hooded man running up to the family’s home on Pennard Avenue, Huyton and hurling an object which shattered their front window.
Several days later, Imran said, he went outside to discover his car had also been vandalised. Further CCTV, taken on October 30, appeared to show three youths dressed in black throwing objects at the family’s home before running away.
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Imran, 41, said: “We are the only ones on this street who are not English, and we think people are targeting us. We’ve been here since August 2016 and before, there was nothing like this, there would be an odd child being naughty, but nobody ever broke a window.”
The vandals recently struck a fourth time earlier this month, again shattering the living room window and breaking the property’s CCTV cameras. Imran said: “This is the fourth time we have been attacked. The first incident they smashed the front window and we reported it to the police. A couple of days later they broke the windscreen of the car.
“The third incident happened on October 30 when we caught three children throwing things at the window, but luckily they weren’t broken. ” He said all four incidents had been reported to police, but “nothing has happened so far”.
He continued: “The first time it happened, the police said it wasn’t possible to identify them and closed the file. The third time there was no damage done so they didn’t investigate. The latest is still under investigation.”
He added: “My wife is very scared, she doesn’t want to go out after sunset. She doesn’t even want to go around the corner to the shop. I also feel worried for my children growing up in this atmosphere. It’s not good and they’re already scared it will happen again. They don’t want to go out or even go near the window when they’re alone.”
A Merseyside Police spokesman said reports had been received that a family on Pennard Avenue have been subjected to anti-social behaviour and criminal damage to their home in June, October and most recently on Thursday, December 5, when the family home had the living room window being smashed.
Local Policing Detective Inspector Yoseph Al-Ramadhan said: “We are taking the allegations very seriously and are currently investigating them and have increased high visibility patrols.
“If anyone has information on crime, anti-social behaviour or hate crime around the Pennard Avenue area in the Huyton area contact us. No one should be targeted or distressed by disgraceful behaviour regardless of their background or religious beliefs.
“Please be rest-assured that our enquiries continue to find the suspects, and officers are patrolling the area and visiting the family to provide assurance and advise on safety.”
If you have information on this incident please contact @MerPolCC on X or ‘Merseyside Police Contact Centre’ on Facebook with reference 24000929439. You can also call 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.
If you have information on any form of hate crime, you can contact the Merseyside Police social media desk via X @MerPolCC or Facebook ‘Merseyside Police Contact Centre’. More information about reporting hate crime to the police or third-party reporting centres can be found here: How to report hate crime | Merseyside Police.
If, for any reason, you do not wish to report a hate crime to the police, the independent charity Stop Hate UK to runs a 24/7 confidential helpline for all victims of hate crime on 0800 138 1625 or www.stophateuk.org. You can also download the Stop Hate UK reporting app on Google Play or the Apple App Store.
