See
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1214180/Mother-killed-disabled-daughter-car-suffered-years-taunting -abuse-gang.html
"A mother who killed herself and her disabled daughter in a blazing car had faced constant abuse and threats from a gang of youths, an inquest heard today.
Fiona Pilkington made dozens of calls to the
police and council officials to complain about the way her daughter, Francecca Hardwick, was being picked on.
The inquest heard that Ms Pilkington, a full-time carer to her daughter, had apparently carried out the act of murder-suicide because of the abuse.
Ms Pilkington's severely dyslexic son, Anthony Hardwick, was also victimised by the gang.
Giving evidence, Pam Cassell, 72, said her daughter Ms Pilkington had taped up her letter box the week before she died because she feared fireworks would be put through it.
Mrs Cassell said: 'It was Halloween and firework night coming up and Fiona was dreading them because she knew that the children would start throwing things at the house and start putting fireworks through the letter box.
'They would start on Fiona and throw things and then go round the back and do things in the garden. It was always the same group of youths.
'Sometimes they would go round the side of the house and urinate.
'They used to ring on the doorbell and say that she had been hitting her kids. They were petty things like that.
The inquest heard that the abuse started when the family moved into the house in Barwell, Leicestershire, but it escalated after Anthony fell out with a friend who lived on the street.
The unnamed boy was at the centre of this gang, even though Anthony had attended sleepovers at his house as a young child, the inquest heard.
He would taunt them at the front of their house by shouting: 'We can do anything we like and you can't do anything about it.'
Mrs Cassell added: 'Fiona couldn't defend herself. She was very shy and she didn't want any trouble so she tended to ignore them. She was very vulnerable.'
Asked by coroner Olivia Davison why the family were picked on, Mrs Cassell said: 'Fiona existed and they didn't like it. I don't think she was their sort and there was something that she did that they took exception to.'
During one incident Fiona Pilkington's son Anthony was put at knifepoint into a shed, the inquest heard. But despite dozens of calls to the police and Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, little was done to help the family.
Mrs Cassell said that at one point the council imposed a 300-yard exclusion zone for the youths around the family's house but that had failed to enforce it.
She said her daughter contacted the council four or five times and phoned police at least 10 times a year demanding help.
She said the school holidays and the weekends were the worst and her daughter constantly had the curtains in her front room closed.
Ms Pilkington's mother added that the family had never taken a holiday together and her daughter did not receive respite care because she did not know how to get it.
Asked by the coroner why her daughter took Frankie on the fateful trip, Mrs Cassell said: 'She didn't think anybody would be able to cope with Frankie, she was getting a lot stronger.'
The court also heard that when the family made friends with the paperboy, the gang started abusing him so he stopped being friendly.
The inquest heard that families in Barden Road were still being abused, despite the deaths of Ms Pilkington and her daughter.
Ms Pilkington's mother said she believed her daughter allowed Frankie to take her pet rabbit with her on their journey to the lay-by, in the hope it would stop her from trying to escape the burning car. But no remains were found and it is believed the animal escaped before the car exploded."