CRIME analysts found an experiment to bring a community bobby to New Earswick was flawed in one major respect - there was a massive gulf between public expectation and what the police could deliver.

Bosses at the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust were told that £25,000 could buy 24 hours of police time per week. But that didn't mean an officer would be standing on a street corner for five days a week.

Emergencies, road accidents and pressing police business diverted the officer away, while promotion, training and holidays meant that no one individual could become established in the community.

Geoff Bunce, 56, of the village residents' forum, said many felt the fear of crime among the village's vulnerable elderly people and single-parents could be alleviated by old-fashioned community policing.

He said: "I remember the days of the good old village bobby. If we could just get back to that stage again, everything would be perfect."

But New Earswick community ward manager PC Paul Beckwith said people's expectations of an "idyllic garden village" could not be met all of the time.

He said: "The project did not fail because the police did not provide a good quality service. There was a massive gap between expectations and reality."

Parish council chairman Don Crawford, 67, said the officer would have been a "wonderman" if he alone could have made an impression on crime and the sense of security in the village.

He said: "We still would like to see policeman in the village. I think the assurance that they are about is not enough for some people. They must be seen to be there."

Jacquie Dale, of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, said: "The reality was almost impossible to deliver, even when additional policing hours were paid for.

"Residents' expectations were never met and fear of crime levels did not diminish as had been hoped."

Meanwhile research showed residents remained fearful of crime, despite CCTV cameras at the village green and library and extra security patrols in the village by private security rangers.

Researchers found that although crime fell by five per cent in the first year of their study, it almost doubled in the second, with much of the increase down to antisocial behaviour and less-serious offences. Surveys found that there was a small rise in the number of villagers who were afraid to go out after dark and a marked increase in dissatisfaction with policing from 30 to 40 per cent.

Convalescing brain surgery patient Paul Woodall was thumped over the head by cowardly attackers on Saturday night as he walked home from the pub, just metres from his home.

"It used to be nice and quiet at one time. But over the last seven or eight years there's been more and more trouble," said the 42-year-old, who has lived in the village for 36 years.

Updated: 11:04 Thursday, October 09, 2003