[Mrluvaluva]

The home town of Garry Newlove, who was beaten to death by drunken yobs, is plagued by alcohol-fuelled violence - and Sky News has witnessed the scale of the problem.

Chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay went to the heart of Warrington and what he saw was shocking - yet seemingly typical. Here is his account:

Just after 2.30 in the morning I hear shouting about 100 yards from the intersection where I've been standing for about the past half hour.

Five police officers sprint down the road, followed by the Sky News team.

We have spent the night on patrol with 16 officers whose sole job on this Saturday night is to be a rapid reaction squad if violence breaks out... actually, it's not really if - but a certain when.

At least six separate battles are going on - men on men, girls on girls, girls on boys and so on. In the middle, a silver-haired woman, probably in her mid-60s, is lying motionless in the road.

The police pile in and after a while things calm down.

One person is arrested but confusion reigns.

At the time we didn't realise this was a fight about a taxi. An elderly couple apparently tried to jump the queue in front of a young couple. There was pushing from both sides and the lady was knocked to the ground. That's when the others joined in.

But forget what sparked the incident - there is absolutely no doubt that what caused the fighting was one single thing - alcohol.

Warrington has great nightlife and it is really good fun.

It is compact, there are dozens of bars, there are loads of young girls and boys and the booze is cheap - ridiculously cheap. At one bar we went to every drink was £1.50 - any drink.

The bars are really clubs but that's how they trade since the change in the licensing laws. They're hopping and they open early and close late.

The spread is quite clever, really. From the top of town they start closing from about 1am. At the bottom of the town, they close at about six.

So, serious party animals can get completely tanked from the nominal start time of about six in the evening until the immodest end time 12 hours later.

In truth, it's utterly bonkers and the police are completely at a loss about what to do to sort it out.

"This is a quiet night and we have had multiple arrests, two serious assaults, lots of fights and virtually everyone you see would actually fail the basic law that says it is illegal to be intoxicated in a public place," Inspector Richard Spedding, in charge of the overnight team, told me.

"What can I do? My officers used to finish their shift at three - now we can go on until six in the morning and then the domestic violence starts when the people get home.

"There has to be a change in the culture and the attitude of young people - that going out doesn't mean its cool to get absolutely bladdered," he said.

"It's expensive and it's a waste of my officers' time - we have to be here but we shouldn't have to be.

"The alcohol is too cheap. The clubs are undercutting each other. I simply don't believe the people of Warrington thought this would be a good thing - but this is what's happened after the laws changed."

While most of the youngsters we saw and spoke to did nothing wrong, how many mums and dads would like to see the state the vast majority ended up in?

In one four-hour period I did not meet one single person who was sober.

Most could not actually speak.


Original article here

What do you think?
Should the price of alcohol be increased?
Tougher licensing laws?
Increase the age limit on the consumption of alcohol?
Stiffer penalties on offenders?

I would like to hear your views.