Career neds: Inside the minds of kids who cause trouble on Princes Street

Published on Wednesday 15 October 2008 10:22

'YOUR name is who you are. I've got a reputation for being hard and other people will come looking for me to prove themselves," says 18-year-old Sean Weir with conviction.

"There was a guy in Princes Street once going round saying he was Sean Weir and looking to fight someone. I went up and battered him."

The babyface with the woollen hat pulled down tight, and the New York-style "gangsta" posturing, give Sean's words an air of childish boastfulness, nothing more than harmless words – but his scarred knuckles, criminal record and swastika tattoo tell a disconcertingly different story.

Sean and his friends are, in fact, well-known to the city centre police, regarded as notorious by many of those living and working around Princes Street's east end.

Violence, drinking and drugs are a depressingly routine part of life for these teenagers, who gather every weekend on the streets around the St James Centre and Princes Mall. Some even brag of the profits they have made selling Ecstasy on the streets.

The most violent hardcore of them – around 15 – like to call themselves the Edinburgh Young Team.

Other hangers-on want to join the ranks of the EYT – which has its own ritual hand signs and clear pecking order – but only those who prove themselves in street fights are allowed to call themselves gang members.

The police are gathering evidence to pursue Asbos against gang members, banning them from Princes Street.

Following months of rising concern, officers have been spurred into tougher action by a particularly nasty, unprovoked attack on a group of Spanish tourists visiting Princes Street.

Sean admits fighting in the street is a regular part of his life. He talks casually about other youths carrying knives and indulging in shocking acts of violence.

"Sometimes we've fallen out with other gangs. They're slagging us off or think they can take us, but if you can't settle it with fists, don't try and settle it at all," he says.

"You get boys carry who knives but we only want a square go. And we don't stamp on a boy's head when they go down. When they go down, that's it. There are some rules to it."

Just two months away from his 19th birthday, Sean – who was thrown out of Leith Academy in second year for fighting – is unemployed and living with his pregnant girlfriend at his mother's home in Lochend.

He met his girlfriend, Jackie, eight months ago at Edinburgh Sheriff Court when each was accompanying a friend to a hearing. Their baby is due in April.

Sean knows that other teenagers associated with the Capital's street gangs have ended up within a few years serving long prison sentences – such as the 11-year terms handed to would-be drug gang hitmen Marc Webley and James Tant – while some have been maimed, or even stabbed to death in the street, like Liam Melvin, 17. Yet he talks in awed tones about some of the city's most notorious drug dealers. He is quick to brag of his own criminal record and shrugs off the punishment he received.

"I was taking Ecstasy and drinking whisky last July when I thought it would be funny to call Edinburgh Airport and tell them there was a bomb on a plane. They traced the call and I was charged with terrorism. I ended up only getting tagged for a year."

He talks of getting out before it's too late: "I've got a lot of mates in jail at the moment. I don't want to end up doing the same because of the bairn. I want to get into hairdressing."

Unlike other city gangs, whose membership is drawn from the streets where they live, the EYT was formed by youths who drifted together from across the Capital. They claim – despite the beliefs of the police – that they do not pick on innocent passersby in Princes Street.

Instead, they say that other gangs frequently "invade" their territory, looking to pick fights with them. The scars of these encounters are plain to see on the broken knuckles of fellow gang member Mikey Annis. The Lochend 16-year-old says police have charged him with "about 12" assaults since he started going down to Princes Street 18 months ago.

"Most of them were because I was drinking and hit someone. It's just part of being young," he says. "I broke a boy's jaw in Hunter Square last year and got 80 hours of community service. I've to go on a Venture Trust course in the next couple of weeks too.

"I was slashed in the hand during one fight and I've also broken my knuckles a few times. When I get to the hospital I always say to the doctors, 'remember me, I was here last week'."

A keen amateur boxer, Mikey took up the sport because he "likes to hit folk" and attends the Sparta gym in Leith. Also a fan of "kickboxing and cage fighting", the teenager harbours dreams of being a professional boxer, but admits prison may be a more likely prospect.

Unemployed since leaving Castlebrae High School and living with his mother, Mikey boasts of selling drugs with other EYT members to fund his drinking.

"We sell Ecstasy to other kids in Princes Street and to the older clubbers. We got thousands of pills from a dealer trying to get rid of them so they only cost 20p each. We sold them for 2 each. I had 2500 in cash hidden in a sock at home and my mum went mental, wondering where I got it.

"I know I'm going to end up in jail if I keep going like this. But it won't last forever. It's just what you do when you're young.

"My mum hates it when the police come round. She goes mental but she's used to it by now."

Despite boasting about their violent behaviour and selling drugs on Princes Street, the teenagers bizarrely complain about the attention they are receiving from the police.

Lewis Scott, 17, who lives with his grandparents in Portobello while his dad serves a prison sentence for assault, says: "All the bother we get from police is ruining our nights out. The security cameras are always watching us while we are there. You can see the cameras moving to follow us."

They are also regularly thrown out of McDonald's and Burger King over noise and disorder.

Mikey adds: "We can't go into Princes Street without the police hassling us, searching us for weapons or drugs.

"We don't want to go anywhere else. This is our place to meet. We're getting picked on by the police."

One in five children aged 13 is in a gang

ONE in five 13-year-olds in the Capital claim to be a gang member, according to Edinburgh University research.

The study found that hundreds of city youngsters belong to "hardcore" gangs with distinct identities, such as the Edinburgh Young Team, Young Niddrie Terrors and Young Mental Royston.

These youths are often involved in crime, underage drinking and drug-taking while only in their second year at high school.

Hundreds more young teenagers, although not members of such gangs, risk being drawn into trouble because they are attracted to the prevailing gang culture, the researchers concluded.

The results of the 2005 study – which involved questioning 4300 city children – found that members were also more likely to suffer violence and bullying, partly through their gangs getting involved in fights, and partly because victims joined gangs looking for protection.

The "hardcore" gangs were those with their own names and signs, and membership of these gangs did not fall as the children got older. They were more likely to be involved in serious crimes, including burglary, joyriding and assault.

Volunteers at the 6VT Youth Cafe, based at Victoria Terrace, work with young people and tries to guide them away from gangs, crime and underage drinking.

For six weeks during May and June, its volunteers worked with around 20 members of the Edinburgh Young Team and their hangers-on.

Lorraine Goodwin, a 6VT project worker, warned that many of the teenagers found it extremely hard to break away after being drawn into the gang lifestyle.

"We went out and found them, I don't think they would come to us themselves, but when help is offered, many are grasping for it," she said.

"Hanging about together can make them feel safe and part of something. The peer pressure (to remain in the gang) can be very high. They might want to make changes but they need to keep that bravado going.

"There is a real hierarchy to this group and they look up to their leaders. The age range was mostly 15 to 18, but there were some 14-year-olds. Often some would sit back and let the leaders take the initiative during discussions or role playing, and we tried to work against that."

&#149 A study published yesterday found that territorial behaviour by teenage gangs could be a "coping mechanism" for young people living in poverty.