Demolition zone

24 July 2013 Last updated at 12:26 ET Continue reading the main story

Louisa Blackburn is living in the middle of a demolition site.

Most of the houses in her street have been razed to the ground, but her home is propped on either side by an abandoned, bricked-up, building.

The pensioner is among a handful of people still living in what little remains of this part of Soudan Street, in an area of south Belfast known locally as the Village.

The Village is undergoing a multi-million pound regeneration scheme, and hundreds of substandard homes have already been pulled down to make way for new, modern housing.

However, the area has long been the target of vandals, fly-tippers, metal thieves and so-called brick bandits, who it appears, are continuing to strip the demolition zone of anything they can sell.

As Louisa and her few remaining neighbours wait to be re-housed, rubble and rubbish is piled up outside their homes. Fires are being set in waste ground, just feet from occupied houses.

Even the granite kerb stones are disappearing from underneath their feet.

Several months ago, metal thieves ripped lead flashing from Louisa's roof, leaving her to deal with rainwater leaking into her kitchen.

Now, she believes copper is their new target. The pensioner said she has witnessed men setting fire to electrical cables right outside her home.

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Demolition zone