'Dawn milk mob' who terrorised milkman every day for SIX years face jail

By Luke Salkeld

Over six long years, milkman Michael Bulling has shown plenty of bottle.

For as well as the early starts and unfriendly dogs he faced a more sinister threat on his daily round - a teenage gang intent on getting in his way.

The early-rising yobs would get up at 5am and lie in wait for Mr Bulling before chasing after his float, shouting abuse and stealing his produce.

Over the course of their campaign, which they boasted about on a social networking website, they stole £12,000 worth of milk from the float and from customers' doorsteps.

Mr Bulling, 54, was eventually forced out of business and had to sell his round because he was unable to retain staff who were scared of the gang.

Milkman Michael Bulling was subjected to a six year campaign of abuse by a teenage gang who stole 12,000 of milk

Luke Hammerton, Gradyn Runyeard-Hunt and Ashley Keirl, all 18, and an unnamed 17-year-old are now facing jail for engaging in what they described as 'Egg Warz' in the pretty Wiltshire town of Bradford-on-Avon.

The group called themselves the 'Bradford Early Street Milk Blagging Elite' and even had their own Bebo web page to boast about their antics and encourage others to join in.

On it they wrote: "We r the besmbe crew we all stick togeather and we go out in the earlyer mornings and rob your milk and orange juice! we also rob the milk float!"

Ashley Keirl, 18, (right) and Samuel Jordan, 18, (left) arrive at court

Chippenham Magistrates Court heard how the gang started targeting Mr Bulling as a 'prank' in 2001 when they were aged just 11 and 12.

But it spiralled into an organised vendetta campaign which brought terror to the streets.

They would chase Mr Bulling's milk float shouting abuse and stealing milk, eggs, orange juice and cash.

Their website featured pictures of them loading crates of milk, juice and eggs into the back of a car and urging others to join in with their "Egg Warz".

Chillingly, it also included a sinister photo of Mr Bulling's parents' graves.

Gradyn Runyeard Hunt (left) and Luke Hammerton, 18 arrive at court where they were found guilty for their part in a six year campaign of abuse

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told the court: "This caused a great deal of distress, annoyance and nuisance to the local residents.

"But in particular it affected Michael Bulling and his staff. The verbal abuse and harassment meant that the milkmen were forced to return to the yard, change their routes or abandon them altogether."

Mr Bulling sold his business - Michael Bulling Independent Dairyman, which once employed 26 people - to Dairy Crest last year after most of his staff left to avoid the constant abuse and thefts.

Police knew of the gang's activities for years and monitored the website but finally caught them red-handed in September last year as they stole £150 of dairy products from another local dairy.

This time they were joined by 18-year-old Samuel Jordan, who admitted to burglary,

Hammerton, Runyeard-Hunt, Keirl and the 17-year-old each pleaded guilty to one count of theft and one count of burglary and will be sentenced next month.

Judge Simon Cooper said: 'What is evident to me is that you have deprived good men of their living and the satisfaction of a job well done.

'One of the things I will consider for the benefit of the community and to deter others from offending in this way is a custodial sentence.'

Detective Constable Al Hardman, of Melksham CID, said at the gang's hearing in March: "This completely ruined Mr Bulling's life and his business. What started off as a prank evolved into some serious crimes.

"Those responsible made his life and that of his workers a complete misery causing him to lose a lot of money and sell off most of his business.

"This amounted to harassment of him and his workers over a six-year period."

He added that the crimes had taken its toll on the whole community, adding: 'When older people have milk delivered it is often because they can't get to the shops.

"Sometimes the only person they see all day is the milkman and they will stop and have a chat with him.

"So these crimes really impinge on them, it was a huge inconvenience to his customers."

Mr Bulling declined to comment yesterday at his home in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

He has only ever spoken publicly about the harassment once, in 2004, when he vowed to fight the yobs in a local newspaper interview.

He said: "We are not going to let them get the better of us. I won't budge an inch because we are giving an important service to the community.

"The customers are a big family to the milkmen because they have been serving them for so long. If these kids think they are going to frighten the milkmen off they can think again."

The gang's Bebo website, which has been partly taken down, now contains comments from the gang's acquaintances, one of which reads: "Haha ur gettin sent down".

And blogger using the name "damsel" left an apologetic message on a newspaper website.

He wrote: "Yea ok... we have done wrong. yea we do know we are guna get punished. This started off as a small prank.. It got way out of control!!

"So yea, maybe justice will be done in the eyes of u lot. and we may recieve a prison sentence or left to physically repay the debt to society. Watever we recieve.. we deserve it."