Licensee fights back against death threats

A licensee who received death threats from vandals is fighting back by turning his pub into a fortress with hi-tech CCTV.

Dave Powell who runs The Harvest Home in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, became a victim of persistent troublemakers two months ago.

The problems climaxed on Tuesday when a pagoda was sawn through, his car windscreen was smashed and hanging baskets were ripped down.

Mr Powell said: "I called the police to report the damage and when I put the phone down I had another call telling me that if I told the police I would be killed.

"I've worked here for four and a half years and before that was in the trade for a brief time when I left the army, but I've never dealt with anything like this. It's very unnerving."

Undeterred Mr Powell decided he was going to continue running the Punch pub the way he had and looked into making it more secure.

He is now in the process of installing a 16 channel CCTV unit, which will record what goes on around the entire pub.

"I'm 58 and I don't want to fight people, I just want to run my business and won't let troublemakers spoil it for our regulars.

"This pub had a reputation for trouble 20 years ago but I'm determined to wipe that out. We have put a lot of work into improving the image and won't let this trouble stop us."