TWO teenage yobs who terrorised a Burnley community have been hit with anti-social behaviour orders.

Seventeen-year-old Kurt Swindlehurst and Kevin King Yates, 15, intimidated and abused local residents, rode motorcycles through the streets and set their dogs on cats and children.

In one instance a cat was even killed following an attack by one of the duo’s dogs.

Police have labelled the pair ‘teen terrors’ after they made life a misery for residents in the Coalclough area.

Between February and July this year Swindlehurst, of Fenwick Street, was reported for setting his dog on cats three times.

On one occasion his dog was seen with a cat hanging out of its mouth in Coalclough Lane, and in a separate incident a cat was reportedly killed by the animal, in Woodcourt Avenue.

He was also warned by the dog warden after setting the animal on children and residents in Cog Lane.

King Yates, of Comrie Crescent, also received a warning by police for throwing dead animals into a neighbour’s garden.

Police received more than 10 reports of the pair riding motorbikes in the area. And they were accused of intimidating residents on a further eight occasions.

The pair were caught engaging in anti-social behaviour together on a further four occasions, police said.

PC Adam Gordon, from Burnley’s Multi Agency problem Solving Team (MAPS), said: “These teen terrors have had a massive impact on the Coal Clough community and have caused a lot of misery.

“The ASBOs have been granted in response to community concerns following a great deal of work by local neighbourhood officers PC Chris Scott and PCSO Julie Rosthorn Police, as well as Burnley Borough Council’s anti social behaviour team and local housing company, Calico.”

He added: “I hope this firm action will reassure people that local police officers and other agencies are doing everything within their power to rid the streets of anti-social and criminal behaviour and further reduce already low crime levels in Burnley.”

King Yates, who has been reported for throwing beer cans and threatening women, has regularly been caught riding trials bikes, motorcycles and off-road motorbikes, in the Harold Street, Dalton Street and Stoops Estate areas.

Swindlehurst, who has been reported for damaging vehicles in the area, has also faced accusations of intimidating a 16-year-old girl, in Dalton Street.

Gordon Birtwistle, leader of Burnley Council, who also represents the Coal Clough with Deerplay ward, said: “I am delighted the police have got them, picked them up and issued them with ASBOs, but whether they take any notice of them is another matter.

“In some areas of this town it is almost a status symbol to have an ASBO, so I hope these two characters behave themselves because we don’t want people who terrorise the community for their own enjoyment in my ward or anywhere else.

“The problem with ASBOs is that if these people are as bad as they say, they won’t take any notice of it.

“There is a group of them who gather at the bottom of Cog Lane creating a lot of trouble and causing great disruption to people’s lives. The police should be coming down hard on them.”

Coun Charlie Briggs, who sits on the Community Safety Partnership Steering Group, added: “What they’ve been doing is absolutely disgusting.

“Hopefully the ASBOs will teach them they can’t go around Burnley doing what they want to law abiding citizens. The punishment fits the crime.”