A TWELVE-INCH knife blade was thrown over a family’s garden wall in what residents fear is a growing problem with drug-fuelled antisocial behaviour in Old Town.

The terrifying revelation was shared as residents debated drugs and associated problems of petty thefts and dumped syringes.

Councillors spoke of starting up a Neighbourhood Watch-style group aimed at tackling the drug litter, while others stressed the importance of reporting incidents to the police.

One Steeple View woman spoke of how she called the police late last year when a teen party got out of hand and fights spilled out on to the steps of Christ Church.

She said: “I looked out the window and thought they were going to be injured. There was fighting, girls screaming.”

When police officers swarmed the party, revellers fled the scene. The woman said some of the boys, who she believes were in their late teens, threw bags of drugs and a 12-inch knife over the wall of her back garden.

“It was shocking,” she said. “These were just young lads.”

Residents, councillors and South Swindon MP Robert Buckland were at the public meeting in Christ Church Community Centre. It followed concerns, aired on an Old Town Facebook group, that drug-related problems were on the rise in the area.

Resident Emma Bunce said: “It’s got particularly bad over the last five years. It’s almost like we’ve accepted it. We’ve accepted it as normal.”

The meeting focused on the impacts of drugs, including aggressive begging, syringes left on pavements and in parks, drug dealing in Old Town car parks and petty theft.

Chris Watts, chairman of South Swindon Parish Council, said that the council clerk’s laptop was stolen from the Old Town Library when it was left unattended: “We were gone 30 seconds. This guy was like a ninja.”

Tim Pearson, 50, said that he had reported one drug user to police after spotting him behind the High Street Club, injecting drugs into his groin.

There were complaints that the police were slow to respond, with delays in reporting drug dealing to Wiltshire Police using the non-emergency 101 hotline.

“On one occasion I have gone on a 30-minute dog walk and by the time I’ve come back I’m still on hold,” Tim Pearson said.

But councillors stressed the importance of flagging problems to Wiltshire Police using the 101 number. The force says it is looking at improvements to the service, including the potential for letting people report crimes through an online chat programme.

And there was support for a Neighbourhood Watch-type system of Community Safety Volunteers. Plans for the scheme, put forward by parish councillors, were not especially advanced, but could see people trained to help remove needles. The meeting’s organiser, Traci Parfect, 55, said: "We can’t change the world, but we can perhaps change Old Town.”