A CONCERNED councillor has called for police to clampdown on troublemakers in Walton following a “horrendous” early morning robbery.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a teenage girl was punched in the face by a woman during the vicious incident, which happened on Monday, September 13.

Details of the attack, during which the victim’s purse and phone were taken, were not released by the police until Monday.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We are appealing for witnesses or dash cam footage following a robbery in Walton.

“It was reported to us that a teenage girl was assaulted at Princes Esplanade in the early hours.

“The victim was punched to the face by a woman.

“During the incident, her phone and purse were taken.”

Walton councillor Delyth Miles said she was concerned about an apparent increase in violent incidents in the town.

She said: “This robbery was horrendous and I hope the victim has made a speedy recovery.

“But this is all getting very worrying.

“I will be attending a meeting of Tendring Council’s scrutiny committee and will be raising this with the police.

“We have to stop antisocial behaviour at the ground level before it escalates and gets even more dangerous.

“There are nasty little crimes going on here.

“I don’t want the police wasting time on good news stories and projects, we need to know what they doing in Frinton and Walton and if they are patrolling the area.

“What are our Police Community Support Officers, who the town council pay for, doing - and what is being done in terms of enforcement.

“We have had three or four nasty incidents this year, including a knifepoint robbery at Quality Foods, in Old Pier Street, two robbers posed as a police officer during a burglary in Woodberry Way and there was also a break-in a shop in High Street.

“It could get worse and worse unless we see boots on the ground.”

Acting Inspector Aaron Homatopoulos, from the Tendring Community Policing Team, says: “Walton is a safe part of a safe district in a safe county.

“I know recent, isolated incidents, may cause concern among our local community but these aside we are not seeing a particular issue with violence in the Walton area.

“We appreciate that every incident has an effect on the victims involved and we work hard to bring offenders to justice.

“We also work closely with Tendring Council to combat anti-social behaviour.

“Our police community support officers and the council’s anti-social behaviour patrol officer work together to target it and they take enforcement action where necessary.

“We’ve actually also seen the number of recorded incidents of anti-social behaviour across the Tendring district halve in August compared to the same time last year – from 437 incidents in August 2020 to 233 this year.

“Across the district we’ve also seen the reports of violence with injury offences, robbery, and burglary fall in the year to the end of August this year.

“Our officers regularly patrol Walton and will continue to do so, so if anyone has any concerns, they are welcome to tell them or report them to us online at essex.police.uk, where you can use Live Chat between 7am and 11pm.”

Anyone who witnessed the incident, has dash cam footage or has any information that may help the inquiry, is asked to call Essex Police us on 101 quoting crime reference number 42/196848/21.