A ‘violent’ Wycombe gang leader aged just 13 has been banned from going to Beaconsfield as police try to tackle criminal damage in the area.

PC William Ranford, from Beaconsfield neighbourhood policing team, told a meeting of the community safety committee on Thursday evening that the force have had a problem with gangs in the area, particularly causing damage to play equipment in Holtspur Park.

PC Ranford said a gang coming over to Beaconsfield from the Micklefield and Downley areas had been ‘recruiting’ youths in the town.

He said: “The intelligence was that [the gang] were the smallest fish in the pond in Wycombe. In the Wycombe gang, the leader is 13 and he is surrounding himself with 15 and 16 year olds. He is only the leader because he is the most violent.

“We have banned the leader from Beaconsfield by way of an Acceptable Behaviour Contract and since he was banned, we haven’t seen the group here again. They seem to have restricted their activities to High Wycombe once more, which we are very relieved about.

“The Wycombe gang don’t tend to do things that are merely an inconvenience, they tend to do things which are disruptive. As far as we can tell, those incidents have stopped but we will continue to monitor the situation.”

PC Ranford said the gang targeted Holtspur Park because the area is considered a ‘soft touch’ compared to Wycombe.

He said: “In Wycombe there are an enormous amount of police resources, in South Bucks there are far fewer and certainly in the Beaconsfield team we only have two PCs.

“There is also a large open space in Holtspur with no lights and they can get together, ride their bikes around, sit on the furniture there and it’s a convenient place to go.”

Cllr Anita Cranmer, chair of the community safety committee, said putting CCTV cameras around Holtspur youth club will now be a ‘priority.’

She said: “I didn’t know they were coming from Wycombe, but it seems young people gravitate towards an area that is easy for them.

“Since May there have been two small fires set on the brand new play equipment at Holtspur Park. It is not major stuff – I don’t think it’s gang warfare, but it is something we are concerned about.

“The police have been very active in moving people on from the area, I think they have got it all in hand.

“Funding has been allocated for one CCTV camera in the area of the youth club.”