The juke box was annoying but at least it meant it was unlikely that their conversation could be overheard. “So we’re all agreed then” Jez enquired of his colleagues. Dave and Rob nodded affirmatively and all eyes then turned onto Andy who was still to answer.

“ok” said Andy with seeming reluctance.

“You need to be absolutely sure Andy” said Jez

“ok, I’m in” said Andy with a hint of annoyance at having his dedication called into question.

“ok” said Jez, “This is how we have to do it then”.

The discussions in the Kings Head continued for another hour and the details were finalised. Tonight would be the night.

The four left the pub at 9:45pm and drove to the lock-up which had been prepared by Jez in the hope of securing the agreement of his three friends, they fought their way into the black nylon full boiler suits which Jez had procured and donned the black gloves obtained from the same source.

The equipment was loaded into the back of the once scrap vehicle which had now acquired a new engine and a new identity, “the chavmobile” as Jez called it. The headgear was passed around but not mounted in place, they were to drive to the location and complete their preparations “on site”.

They reached the infamous Calder Estate and headed for Romsea Drive which they knew was where their target could generally be located, the first pass of Romsea Drive revealed little and the tension in the car began to rise.

“Where are the little bastards” said Andy, his eyes going backwards and forwards from window to window searching for sign of life, “where are they”. They turned right at the end of Romsea Drive and took rights at the next two corners to put them back on Romsea again and then they spotted their quarry.

Coming from one of the gates along the road were a group of five or six youths, at the head of the line was Ross Henry, a fifteen year old known to the police and just about everyone within a five mile radius, he was accompanied by Duane Sharp, Darrel Speak, the others couldn’t be identified.

“Lets do it” shouted Andy, his voice pitched higher than normal, his adrenalin obviously taking him to new heights. Rob stared straight ahead and contemplated what was about to happen, his fists clenching and unclenching on the wheel in anticipation.

“Cool down Andy” said Jez, “We will pass by them, go around the corner and get the gear out of the boot, put the balaclavas on and come round again”.

“We do it just as we planned, Rob, stay in the car and keep the engine running, Andy, me and Dave will go in with the bats” The others nodded in agreement. “Remember” said Jez, “Its that Henry bastard we want, the others are just a bonus”.
They went around the corner, stopped the car, armed themselves from the boot and once inside again, donned their headgear. The car started up again and went around the corners to begin the approach.

As the car entered Romsea drive, the group of youths could be seen about twenty metres in front, they drove about 5 metres past them and stopped, the doors were flung open and the three black clad figures emerged and began swinging the baseball bats against the heads or any available part of the remaining group of youths, the ones who hadn’t managed to flee at first sight of their attackers.

Darrel Speak lay on the floor unmoving following the receipt a blow to the head, Duane Sharp lay on the floor screaming with his leg underneath him jutting out at an impossible angle, Ross Henry was on his knees with blood pouring from a facial wound above his eyes pleading not to be hit again. One other youth was crawling away from the scene and the remainder were running back down Romsea Street shouting for help.

Jez threw down the baseball bat and approached Ross Henry, he grabbed Henry’s right hand, Andy pulled his other arm behind his back and used his other arm to get Henry into a headlock.

Jez pulled the tin snips from his pocket, extended Henry’s index finger and placed it between the jaws, “Like nicking cars do ya? ya thieving little bastard”. Henry’s eyes widened in terror and Andy’s grip tightened around his throat to prevent the inevitable screams.

“Think it fun to wreck someone’s stuff do ya?” shouted Jez “Well have a good laugh about this then”. Jez flexed his arm and applied full power the tin snips which sheared through the finger with incredible ease and the dismembered digit dropped to the floor, the thumb and ring finger followed.

The procedure was repeated with the other hand and Henry’s chilling screams were allowed to flow.

“Have a few days off” shouted Jez and aimed a final fist into Henry’s face.

Doors began to open from the surrounding houses, Rob was revving the engine and screaming at the others to hurry, the three ran back to the car and jumped in, Rob pulled away before Andy was back in and he shouted for him to wait while he closed his door. Rob screeched around the top corner narrowly missing another car and then headed at speed back to the lockup.

Jez was laughing and talking about what had just happened, “won’t be nicking any cars now will he?” he ripped off his balaclava and turned to each his friends in turn, Rob was concentrating on driving but nodded in agreement, Dave had removed his balaclava and was mimicking the action of the tin snips, a wide smile on his face.

Andy stared straight ahead and said nothing.

They cut the lights as they turned into the estate and approached the lock up, Dave got out and raised the door, Rob drove the car in and switched off the engine. They left the vehicle and began to remove the boiler-suits. The discussed what had transpired but Andy continually stared straight ahead and wouldn’t make eye contact with any of the others.

“Whats up Andy” said Dave, “Its over now, we did it”.

Andy turned to look at Dave, “We shouldn’t have done it”.

All of the others turned to face Andy, Jez walked forward and stood in front of Andy, he put his hand on his shoulder, “He deserved it Andy” said Jez quietly, “He has had enough warnings from the police and everyone but he just kept hurting people, we stopped him Andy, he won’t hurt anyone now”.

Andy looked at Jez “I know all of that but it’s so… so… Christ I can’t get it out of my head, the look on his face as you cut off his fingers”

Jez grabbed him firmly by both shoulders, “I know its not pleasant…. but he deserved it, we did what the police couldn’t do, we put him out of business.”

Andy freed himself from Jez’s grip and nodded in affirmation, the four opened the prepared bottle of Scotch and had a drink together before making the phone call.

Jez dialled the number on the specially acquired mobile and a sleepy female voice answered after around three rings, “Jodie Miller” she said.

Jez began to read from the piece of paper in his hand.

“Jodie Miller, please listen carefully, I know you are the crime correspondent from the Post and we will only talk to you. We have just done something which you will hear about shortly, we are the A.S.B.E, The Anti-social Behaviour Enforcers. Our code word is “Cobra”, if anyone phones you and doesn’t give the code word then it is not us, we will contact you whenever we have completed an action so that you know it was us that carried it out.

We are dedicated to ridding this city of the scum which is responsible for any act of theft, violence against innocents or anti-social behaviour in any form, these acts will be punishable by a range of means at our disposal and ultimately death if deemed warranted.

Don’t try to trace the phone in future because they will be destroyed or disposed of after each call. Our database currently contains over 400 targets and we will not stop until they are stopped.

These actions have been made necessary by our ineffective police force, our ineffective judicial system and a degeneration of traditional values of decency and respect. Our message to the perpetrators of anti-social acts is simple, when they stop, we stop. Until then, they can expect no mercy, message ends.”

And so it began…………