Teens quizzed over girl's death

Murder squad detectives are questioning three teenage girls after a 15-year-old girl died in an attack yards from her home.

Aimee Wellock, a dance academy student, was with her boyfriend and other friends when a gang of youths from a local estate confronted them.

She staggered a few yards down the street before collapsing in a field and died later in hospital.

The attack comes as the Government today unveiled a new Bill to fight violent crime and restore "respect" within communities.

The girl, from a close-knit middle class family, was said to have been targeted by a "renowned gang of yobs" who ride motorbikes and terrorise neighbours in an affluent suburb of Bradford.

Police today carried out a series of dawn raids on an estate in Allerton. They arrested three girls aged 15, 17 and 19 and a 15-year-old boy.

The victim was named locally as Aimee Wellock, who lived with her parents in a semi-detached house less than 500 yards from the scene of the attack.

A family friend said she was picked on by the gang. The 59-year-old man, who did not want to be named, said: "There are loads of yobs round here and a group of them started asking her and her mates for a fag. Then one of them thumped one of her friends and it started to kick off.

"She was a lovely girl. Her grandparents doted on her. They will be devastated and I can't even imagine what the parents are going through. They were very close."

Police are yet to confirm it is a murder investigation because post mortem tests have failed to establish a cause of death but they are treating the case as suspicious.

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said the victim was involved in an altercation between two groups of youths in Allerton at about 8.20pm last night.

A few minutes later she walked a short distance and collapsed unconscious. She was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary, but was pronounced dead at 9.45pm.

Residents said local youths from a nearby council estate had plagued the area, riding on "beatup"-motorcycles on the streets and in the field where Amy was found.

Some residents said Amy's death may have involved an incident with one of the bikers.

Donald and Ruth Booth, who live on the estate, said local youths were in the field last night. Mrs Booth said: "I was told by some children playing there that the girl had been hit by a bike and then kicked and someone chased the youth on the motorbike."

The field remained sealed off with police tape today.

A spokesman for Parkside School, where Amy was studying, said: "Our deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends of the young person involved."