In March, the Observer reported on how gangs had filmed sadistic attacks on teenagers after luring them to parks for beatings.

The paper was sent shocking footage of two attacks in South Oxhey that have taken place in the past two weeks.

In one, a 13-year-old girl needed hospital treatment after being set upon at the Henbury Way play area on March 2. This took place two weeks after a teenage boy was beaten and robbed in a park off Hayling Road.

A source close to the teenage girl said: “Something needs to be done before this happens to anyone else."

A young mother had to fight back the tears as she told a court about the life-changing impact a hit and run had on her.

Danielle Wood, from Rickmansworth, was struck by a blue Citroen, after she tried to help a colleague stop a car getting out of a Tesco car park in Rickmansworth after an attempted theft.

Ms Wood, 26, who has a five-year-old son, was hit by the wing mirror of the Citroen toppling her over the side of the car before falling heavily, eventually landing on her back.

She was rushed to Watford General Hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra.

At St Albans Crown Court, Lucy Turner of Haggerston Road, Borehamwood, was jailed for 38 months for her part in a series of thefts and the hit and run.

The family of a teenager stabbed to death by his girlfriend’s brother called for a tougher stance around knife crime.

Risaan Udayakumar, 18, died in hospital on July 10, 2018 after being attacked in a garage at an address in Watford.

His killer, a 16-year-old who cannot be named, was found guilty of manslaughter due to a loss of control in January and sentenced to seven years at a young offenders institution.

And Watford said goodbye to music shop “legend” Stanley Leard-Freeman.

The former proprietor of Queens Road Music Shop in Watford town centre, died aged 90.

Mr Freeman had run the shop for more than 60 years, closing it in June 2018 when he retired at 89.