Estate's litterbugs posted on YouTube

A community watchdog is using YouTube to declare war on people it claims are littering the streets.

The St Peter's Neighbourhood Monitoring group, in Leicester, has been filming members of the public dropping rubbish on the streets and posting the clips on YouTube.

It said it is fed up with litter in the Highfields and St Peter's community and hopes the videos will help identify anybody who is guilty and will lead to prosecutions.

Monitoring group member Albert Berer, 27, said it openly declared war on them in a statement on its neighbourhood website.

"We can film at night as well, litter louts are safe at no time and in no place in Highfields and St Peters."

So far, 15 videos have been uploaded of people dropping rubbish, including drinks cans, takeaway wrappers and dirty tissues.

Visitors to YouTube are being asked to e-mail the St Peters group if they recognise any of the litter louts in the one-minute clips.

The information will be passed to Leicester City Council, which will follow up complaints and issue a fixed penalty notice or prosecute anyone it finds guilty.

Mr Berer said the group had video cameras which were capable of spotting a cigarette packet being dropped from a long distance away. He said there were about 130 clips waiting to be edited and uploaded.

A similar tactic was used in the area 18 months ago.

St Peter's resident Jay Mistry, 27, said: "It's a bit of an invasion of privacy, but you should only be worried if you are doing something wrong.

"I think litter can be a problem and it might make people think twice about dropping stuff on the street."

Alisdair Gillespie, professor of criminal law at De Montfort University said: "If a public body, such as the council, were to do a similar thing they would have to show justification.

"But because this group is made up of private citizens then it's not an issue of it being an offence. If they were filming someone to persecute them then that would be harassment, but legally I can't see a problem with what they are doing."

A council spokesman said: "We have been contacted by St Peter's Highfields Neighbourhood Monitoring about footage, and we would be happy to work with them so we can issue notices or prosecutions against them."

To view the clips visit the website.