A gang of feral youths armed with metal baseball bats threatened to smash a young girl’s skull during a terrifying attack at a beauty salon.
Kasey Mullen, 18, was working late at Vi.Vacious hair and beauty bar in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Monday when she spotted the four youngsters on the street outside.
The gang - believed to be aged between nine and 13 - battered the large windows of the business premises before issuing the chilling threat to nail artist Kasey as she tried to lock the door.
She frantically called police and her mum Stacey, who owns the salon, as the group of youths continued to rampage outside.
While driving to help her stricken daughter and a client, mum Stacey came across the same group who were swinging the bats at passing cars nearby.
She snapped a picture of the culprits who had sat down on a wall while still clutching the weapons.
Police are investigating after several large chips have been left in the salon’s windows which could cost thousands of pounds to replace.
Mum-of-three Stacey said: “It’s just absolutely disgusting and unfortunately, because they’re kids, nothing will probably even be done about it.
“My oldest daughter was working at the salon and she was doing a customer’s nails when they became aware of a group of youths outside.
“There were three boys and a girl - two of them had metal baseball bats. They crossed the road towards the shop and obviously wanted to start some sort of commotion.
“They started hitting the bats off the windows which are very large - almost floor to ceiling in size.
“My daughter Kasey and her client had tried to ignore it even though they were petrified. It’s not what you expect when you’re at your work.
“They’ve then come round to the front door, which they can see straight through. My daughter has run to the door to lock it.
“They started hitting the door with the bat, shouting a lot of swear words and saying that they were going to take the bat across her skull.
“They’ve then continued round to the other window at the other side and started hitting that one too.
“Thankfully the glass hasn’t shattered because it’s obviously very tough panes. But there’s lots of big chips out the glass.
“Because we’re on a main road as well, there’s a lot of traffic that goes past.
“So I can’t even afford to not replace the glass in case stones or anything were to fly up off the road and it could hit them. It would be a safety hazard.”
Kasey called police and her mum with Stacey immediately jumping into the car to make the short journey to the salon.
But just minutes later, she came across the same group of youths who were continuing to cause trouble.
She explained: “When I was coming down to the shop, I was on Denburn Road when I saw the same group.
“There were cars going by but they were standing in the middle of the road, waving the bats at them.
“They then started aiming their bats towards my car before crossing back over the road. I pulled over for a minute and I managed to get a clear picture of them with the bats.
“I put a post up on Facebook so that their parents can see what their kids have been up to. “Every business has had to go through a really hard time lately and this is just another thing that no one needs.
“It’s the amount of money that I know it’s going to cost me. This is going to have a big increase on my insurance. It’s going to cost thousands of pounds to replace these windows.
“The price of everything is going up. We’ve just recently had to put our prices up in the salon for the first time in four years.
“The salon stays open late on a Thursday and I know that the girls are going to feel scared.
“There’s only one door so they were cornered in the salon with no other way out.
“What makes it more disgusting is when my daughter was leaving the salon later, she saw one of the same boys out on the street still waving the bat around.
“But where are they even getting these kinds of weapons from?”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "On the evening of Monday, 13 June, police were called to reports of disturbances in the Smeaton Road, Denburn Road and Hayfield Road areas, as well as vandalism in Hayfield Road, Kirkcaldy.”
“Enquiries are ongoing and anyone with information which may assist officers is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident 3248 of 13 June.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .