FERAL baby-faced youths are holding one of Britain's prettiest market towns hostage - attacking anyone who gets in their way.

Up to 20 yobs, some aged as young as 12, are wreaking havoc in Congleton and trashing everything in sight in the small Cheshire town.

Today, The Sun Online can lay bare the full terror gripping the once charming town that has left residents too scared to leave their homes.

But Congleton is just one of many British towns being overrun by youths as police cuts take their toll.

We previously revealed how towns including Stanley in County Durham were all under siege as the lack of bobbies on the beat sees minor crime rates soar.

This year alone, public order offences - including anti-social behaviour - has soared by 30 per cent this year in England and Wales to 409,191.

While robberies in the UK have risen by 22 per cent to 79,117 in 2018, the Office for National Statistics reveals.

And in some parts of the country, residents are even taking matters into their own hands by forming vigilante groups to take on criminals themselves.

Police this week went to the extraordinary lengths of naming and shaming three of the teens responsible for the reign of terror gripping the Britain in Bloom-winning town.

The 15-year-old ringleader of the group, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also sentenced to four months at a youth detention and training centre.

And today locals revealed how the gang had run wild - ripping up flowerbeds, overturning bins and hurling eggs and flour at passersby.

A Crewe mum-of-two told how she had even moved from her rented home to escape the torment of the gang.

Speaking under anonymity, for fear of reprisals, she told Sun Online: "I moved out of Crewe because of this gang. The fear was such that you felt hostage in your own town by these kids.

"How these kids can cause so much havoc is beyond me."

Among the gang’s victims are a 17-year-old girl, who was allegedly attacked by the rampaging yobs after daring to stand up to them.

The student, too scared to be named, needed surgery to a fractured ankle after being pushed to the floor.

Recovering at her home in Congleton, the young student recalled: “They were asking us for fags, so I told them to p*** off. They started lobbing sticks and twigs - whatever they could find - at us.

“Later on, we saw them again. There were about 20 of them, some as young as 13. They were throwing eggs and flour at girls.

“I stood up to them and said ‘what the hell are you doing?’ and one of them threw a bag of flour over me.

“Another one smashed an egg over my head.

“I was fuming.

“I followed one of them behind the Argos. He strode towards me and pushed me out of his way.

“I fell and fractured my ankle.”

The teenager, who is studying to become a hairdresser, had to have a screw drilled into her ankle during a two-day hospital stay.

Five weeks after the November 1 ordeal, she still requires the use of crutches and wears a special protective boot.

Another 17-year-old caught up in the carnage was knocked out outside a takeaway on the same night.

She was left with concussion and whiplash after being kicked.

Her mum said: “They started shouting stuff and she told them to leave her friends alone.

“She was knocked to the floor and kicked.

“Nothing like this has happened before."

Cheshire Police believe the Crewe gang were behind both terrifying incidents.

That some locals vowed to take the law into their own hands over a lack of visible policing, with fears more than a dozen other teens are yet to be brought to book.

Pub owner Shaun Radcliffe, 47, called for a public meeting with cops over the disorder.

He said: “It all started about two months ago.

“A group were coming down to Congleton and causing havoc in the town centre.

“They had been banned from Crewe, so they went to Sandbach and were quickly moved on by the police.

“So they ended up in Congleton. The police were never around so they kept getting away with it.

“Everyone was so angry - there were messages on social media where people were threatening to take the law into their own hands.

"I didn't want my 18-year-old daughter to go out at night.

“Thankfully the police have bucked their ideas up and arrests have been made."

Dog walkers at pretty Congleton Park told how the area had become a no-go zone at night because of the trouble.

Police have linked two attacks in the park to the Crewe invasion. One attack was said to have been on a teenage boy near to the town’s leisure centre.

Other incidents being probed by police include disorder when several youths were trying to board a the 38 bus from Congleton to Crewe.

Arriva Buses has passed CCTV footage to cops.

A pensioner told Sun Online he was fearful of being in the town centre.

The 76-year-old, who did not want to be named, said: “They’re coming to cause trouble.

“It makes you think twice about coming to town - especially with it going dark so soon.”

Congleton kids, meanwhile, have come in for praise after replanting flowers and tidying up the mess left by the yobs.

Mr Radcliffe, who saw more than 40 people attend his public forum with police, added “It’s not something you see in Congleton and, to be fair, some of our kids have helped tidy up the mess they’ve left behind.

“This is a nice little town and we don’t need this. Kids shouldn’t be told to stay indoors because there’s a chance they might be beaten up.”

Three teens - Jayden Burdern, 13, Riley Gaffney, 14, and 15-year-old Reigan Gaffney, 15, from Crewe, were this week hit with criminal behaviour orders.

It is not known whether the teenagers were directly involved in any of the incidents described.

At the Crewe home of Jayden today, rope was tied around a front gate.

A man yelled: “F*** off, f*** off” loud enough to hear through closed double-glazed windows.

There was no answer at the home of the Gaffney brothers, who live with their gran, Jeannette, a parcel delivery worker.

Councillor Janet Clowes, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for adult social care and integration, said: “These young people’s behaviour impacted on members of the public and we had no alternative but to seek these Criminal Behaviour Orders alongside custodial sentencing for those that continue to persist with their offending.

“We hope the orders assist these young people by giving them the boundaries they need to improve their behaviour.

“In the case of a young person, taking a criminal case is always a last resort and our officers both within Cheshire Constabulary and Cheshire East Council have spent a considerable amount of time over several years to support everyone involved.

“However, there has to be a point at which we say, enough is enough, our residents have the right to live in peace and without fear and we must protect them from individuals who don’t respect this.

"We know it can be difficult but we would urge people to report anti-social behaviour to us.”

Sergeant Andy Baker, from the Crewe Beat Team, added: “The behaviour of this group of youths was totally unacceptable and I welcome the punishments that they have been given.

“We will continue to work closely with our partners to take robust action against those who persistently cause misery to members of our community with this kind of behaviour.”

Last month we told how up to 100 teenage yobs were terrorising another town - 160 miles away.

Residents in Stanley, County Durham told how gangs of kids as young as ten were attacking cops with fireworks and bricks and pelting locals with eggs.