A South Belfast resident who says she is "being tortured by anti-social elements" has told of her heartache at hearing her elderly neighbour crying through the walls.

Margaret Barr has lived in the Markets for almost seven years but is desperate to see the social development minister honour her word and raze her Friendly Row flat to the ground.

As part of the four-phase Markets environmental improvement scheme, the eight Friendly Row and Friendly Street properties were to be pulled down in a bid to open up the area and solve the plethora of problems plaguing "trapped" residents.

The layout of the Markets has left Friendly Row and Street residents opening their front doors into unlit alleys and community representatives have long argued this is the root of terrified residents' problems. Margaret and the other residents would have been glad to see their homes knocked down as part of Phase 3 of the Housing Executive Scheme but says she was left disgusted last week to learn the scheme will never go ahead.

Speaking out for the first time about the anti-social behaviour making her and her neighbours' lives a misery, Margaret said she was frightened in her own home.

"We are absolutely crucified by the young ones and you just never know who is going to come to the door next," she said.

"They bang our doors and windows and then run and there's nothing we can do because there's no lights out the front so we can't see them and they know it.

"It's OK for me, I'm young, but Bernie next door is old and she's terrified. I hear her crying through the walls at night and it breaks my heart.

"She gets the worst of it because she's at the corner and it's got so bad she sits in the dark so the light doesn't attract any attention to her wee home.

"Just to protect her I end up going out to chase them but I don't feel safe either and I want people to know what we have to go through because it's just not right, we deserve to live in peace."

Despite the fact it was the Housing Executive which initially proposed demolishing the eight flats, the social development minister has decided against the move because of the Markets housing need.

But community workers say demolition is the only answer. "I understand Margaret Ritchie's point about knocking down flats in an area where there is housing need but these are not homes because the residents have no quality of life," community development worker Gerard Davison said.

"The layout of these flats makes it impossible to stop the anti-social behaviour, the mess, the graffiti and the torture, so the only answer is to level them and rehouse the tenants.

"Bernie is going through hell and we are constantly replacing her front door, trying to paint out the graffiti on her walls and clean the splattered eggs off her windows and it's just not fair."

A HE spokesman said a key part of the redesign of the third phase of the Markets scheme would include improvements to the security of the flats.

"At present, the South Belfast District Office is working closely with community representatives, residents and other statutory agencies with a view to tackling anti-social behaviour in and around the Markets," he said.

"Our original plans for Phase 3 included the demolition of eight flats, four of which are located in Friendly Street and four in Friendly Row however, in view of the high level of housing need in the Markets area, it has been decided to retain the flats.”