YOBS kicked down a man’s front garden wall in the middle of the night, leaving him with a bill of as much as £1,000 to fix the damage.

Edward Connolly, 66, of New Park Road, Benfleet, was in bed when three hooligans kicked down about 6ft of brickwork at the front of his house at about 1am on Saturday.

CCTV footage of the incident shows the three men stopping outside his home, talking between themselves before one man stamps on the wall.

The brickwork collapsed and the three suspects then ran off.

The incident came just days after Mr Connolly’s son-in-law suffered similar damage when vandals kicked down the wall in his front garden in London Road, Benfleet.

Mr Connolly said: “The first thing I knew about it was when I woke up and my next door neighbour asked me if I was aware my wall had been knocked down.

“Luckily I have CCTV cameras, so I trawled through all the footage that day and I couldn’t believe what I saw.

“You can see the youngster looking up and down the road to check no one is coming before kicking it down and then they leg it up the road.

“My son-in-law had the same thing happen to him the other day and an officer told him there had been some wing mirrors torn off in his area as well.”

Last month, Mr Connolly’s son, Mark, had his property in London Road, Benfleet, burgled and torched by crooks.

Mr Connolly said: “There’s so much antisocial behaviour at the moment. I am so angry about it.

“I’m glad I wasn’t awake to hear and get hold of them.

“You try to keep your property nice and then people come along and do this.

“It’s going to be at least £800 to £1,000 to put it right. You just think, why do people do this?”

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Police are investigating the circumstances after a garden wall was knocked down in New Park Road, Benfleet, between 7pm Friday, October 11 and 10am Saturday, October 12.

“Officers will be examining CCTV footage taken by the victim.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.