AN ELDERLY Pontypool couple were attacked outside their home after making a stand against anti-social behaviour.

The couple, Cecil and Marion Hayes, of Talywain, say they were fed up with a gang listening to loud music on a car stereo outside their house.

But when frail, 5ft 3in Mrs Hayes, 73, confronted the gang last September she was pushed to the ground by 19-year-old Leon Zbudowskyj, who then punched her husband in the face.

Yesterday Zbudowskyj was jailed for five months by Newport magistrates. Mrs Hayes, who has difficulty walking and needs a double hip replacement operation, said after the hearing the attack has left her scared to leave her house.

"I was worried to death and I have been ever since it happened," said Mrs Hayes. "I'm afraid to go any further than my gate because I don't know who's about."

Mrs Hayes says she told the gang of about 20 youths to keep the noise down, then took the keys from the ignition of the car to stop the music.

She said: "I tried to walk from the car but this lad was stopping me, standing in front of me with his arms out like a wrestler. He threw a can of beer over my face. He held my arms and I couldn't walk.

"Then he pushed me to the floor. He knelt down and held me down with his knee and I fainted."

Her husband, Cecil, 76, a retired lorry driver, ran to his wife's aid. "I went out to him and tried to pull him off her, and he punched me in the mouth, splitting my lip. He kept saying, 'I'm going to get you.' I wasn't scared but I was very angry."

Mrs Hayes added: "My leg was twisted under me and it hurt terribly. I ached all over. It was like someone put me in a boxing ring and gave me a really good hiding."

Now the couple have called for more community policing in Talywain, and for police to use anti-social behaviour orders to crack down on unruly youths in the area.

Mrs Hayes, who has seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild, said: "Only last week a kid threw a stone at me for telling him to stop urinating against the garages.

"We have lived here for three years and I'm really sorry we moved from Cwmbran. I hate it here. We can't put up with this at our age. I would move tomorrow if we could."