YOUNGSTERS may have been responsible for a wheelchair theft which has left a disabled grandmother stranded in her home.

The £900 wheelchair was taken from a hallway outside Pauline Gill's flat, in Crook, while she was out in her car on Sunday evening.

Because there have been other crime incidents near her home in Waterloo Close, Wear Valley District Council is looking at ways of improving security for residents.

Mrs Gill, who is 53 and has back problems as well as chronic bronchitis, can only walk a few yards. She says her wheelchair was her lifeline.

"I can get as far as the car, but I can't go anywhere because I need my chair," she said.

"I face being stuck here for the three weeks or so it will take for an insurance claim to go through."

After she reported the theft at 7.30pm, police patrol cars toured nearby streets but the only sign of the chair were the foot rests, which Mrs Gill found near the flat.

She said: "I have asked the council to look at security because someone did £1,500 worth of damage to my car in February.

"We had some trouble with four boys, aged around 11 or 13, the night before the chair was stolen. I just wish they would leave me alone."

Police have urged anyone who has seen the black-framed chair to contact them at Crook police station, telephone (01388) 762011.