Heavy police activity reported across Doncaster as probe into gang shootings goes on

Residents living in the Wheatley, Clay Lane and Wheatley Hills areas have reported seeing a number of police vehicles, the police plane and officers with dogs in the areas throughout the day.

Last week, Wheatley saw three shootings in the space of six days – and police have said all the incidents are linked.

Today, residents say they have spotted police combing land off Wheatley Hall Road with dogs.

Five police cars were spotted on land behind the new Costa Coffee, where a new housing estate is being built.

One eyewitness said officers were searching the area with dogs.

And residents in Clay Lane have spotted the police plane circling over the area in the past few hours.

The current wave of gang violence started on April 12 when shots were fired at a house in Maple Avenue, Cantley.

Then on May 6 after a man was seriously injured in a shooting at a house in Aldesworth Road, Cantley.

A 30-year-old man was seriously injured and Graham Del Mar, 52, of Aldesworth Road, has appeared in court charged with attempted murder while a 15-year-old boy and two men aged 18 and 27, who were arrested following the incident, have been released under investigation.

Then on May 18, shots were fired at the house on Aldesworth Road again, and the property set alight. A car parked outside the house was also damaged.

Then last Sunday, a house on the corner of Winchester Avenue and Thorne Road in Wheatley was peppered with bullets.

Last Thursday morning, police sealed off Barnby Dun Road after a house was fired on and on Friday night, two houses in Exeter Road also came under attack by men armed with guns.

DCI Jamie Henderson said: “The incidents we have seen happen in recent weeks are all linked and involve people who are known to each other. We strongly believe that they are all connected to organised crime.”

"We will be deploying significant numbers of officers across Doncaster. Their focus is to disrupt organised crime gangs and their activity.”