TERRIFIED pensioner Shirley Garstang woke to find two hooded teenagers rifling through belongings in her bedroom.

Startled, Mrs Garstang managed to frightened them off when she started screaming and they fled.

But for Mrs Garstang who lives in a council flat in Kearsley, it was her third burglary in as many months and rather than blasting the thugs she has sent a stinging message to her council landlords.

She said: "These flats have no decent security and it's an absolute disgrace because there are vulnerable old people involved here.

"I don't sleep at night now and I get jumpy whenever I hear the slightest noise.

"It all comes down to the Council who just keep on ignoring our pleas for better security to stop these people from tormenting us."

The thugs once blocked up her gas flume -- which protrudes from the gable end of the block of flats -- with stones.

And, Mrs Garstang, aged 62, claims, they have repeatedly smashed the lock on the flats' communal door in a bid to gain access to the flats.

She said: "I'm too weak to stop this but once they came into the bedroom it got beyond a joke.

"I screamed so loudly that it woke up the entire block and one of my neighbours came charging out in his pyjamas carrying a rolling pin. I just collapsed in the end. It all got too much."

Mrs Garstang, who has lived in the council-maintained flat for 10 years, said the problems had become worse in the last year.

But a council spokesman said: "Both the police and the Council have been to see her to offer advice about security measures.

"Access to the block of flats is through an electronic buzzer with a locked back door and security fencing around the garden.

"There is also a lockable gate and all individual flats have locks on the doors and windows."

However, he told the BEN security would be stepped up further in the very near future adding: "The back door and its frames are being replaced and we are also fitting new security fencing on land next to the block of flats."