A PENSIONER fears she may have to leave her home in Deane after vandals smashed up five of her cars in 12 months.

Joan Gahan, 68, has had to pay hundreds of pounds to repair her vehicles, which have been targeted by louts near her home on Dinsdale Drive.

The latest attack came last Friday when a gang smashed the windows on a Ford Fiesta. Mrs Gahan needs her car and now feels she may have to leave her bungalow unless the vandalism stops.

The pensioner moved to her current home three years ago and at first there were no problems.

But in June last year the windows of her Honda Accord were smashed and the car broken into. Months later a Fiat car she bought was twice rolled over onto its side, damaging the car.

Three days after taking home a Ford Fiesta, thieves smashed its windows and stole the road tax disc.

Mrs Gahan pleaded with the police to help her after spending a lot of money on replacing 14 windows in four months.

The police installed a CCTV camera in her bedroom window and the vandalism stopped during the month it was being used.

But as soon as it was removed the attacks started again and within four weeks her Metro had been stolen and was written off.

Mrs Gahan was without a car for a month, which meant she was unable to go and visit friends and play bingo.

She finally took home a Ford Fiesta in September, but this was attacked at the weekend, the thugs smashing the vehicle's windows.

Her daughter, Marion Hope, said the vandalism on the cars had cost her mother hundreds of pounds and was making her insurance premiums very expensive.

She added: "It's just getting terrible for her. She's getting upset all the time and is frightened of sleeping at night. She needs her car to have some sort of life and if it continues she will have to leave her home."

Mrs Hope said none of her mother's neighbours appeared to suffer similar problems and she suspected the elderly woman was suffering because she was an easy target.