A GERMAN-born woman living in Tavistock and her young family were subject to abuse by youths who also threw water-bombs at her home.

The attack on Saturday came during half-time of England's Euro 2000 game against Germany.

Ursula Edwards, 38, her husband, Huw, 40, seven-year-old daughter Eva and five-year-old son Celyn were at home when a gang of youths — some as young as six or seven — began shouting racist abuse and bombarding the family home with water bombs.

Mr Edwards, a teacher in Plymouth, said it just built out of nothing — one minute a few girls sitting on the wall drinking beer, the next more than a dozen youngsters with painted faces, draped in flags screaming and shouting, throwing water-bombs.

Mr Edwards videoed the scenes and called the police, unwilling to confront the youngsters himself and risk escalating the violence.

'There was a hatred there and you just wonder where it came from,' he said.

Relations between the family and many of the younger children had been friendly in the past. Mr Edwards laid part of the blame on the media for driving people to hysteria.

There were about 15 people taking part in the attack. The eldest were said to be 19 or 20. Most were around 15 and some as young as six or seven — 'running with the pack,' said Mr Edwards.

Mrs Edwards said: 'They came with a war scream "England, England", it was frightening.

'I feel quite bitter about it. It's hard to put in words. For people just to be told I'm German and then come here to shout abuse is indescribably bad. I've never said I hope Germany win or anything. I've never done anything to deserve this.

'I haven't eaten or been sleeping since. I just don't want my children to live in an environment like this.'

The family has lived in the area for seven years. Mr Edwards is a teacher at Eggbuckland, Mrs Edwards is a potter and looks after the children.

They met at Swansea University and lived in Germany for ten years, Mr Edwards working as an illustrator. He was also a rugby coach in Italy and represented Britain in the skeleton bobsleigh, before returning to the UK, college and teaching.

This was not the first time there had been trouble. There was a similar incident during a Bayern Munich / Manchester United European Cup match, though not quite so blatant, said Mrs Edwards.

And there have been other incidents over late-night noise and vandalism.

Neighbour Steve Langsford, who witnessed the incident on Saturday, said: 'I think it's disgusting. I was watching the football myself. At half-time I saw the kids running around, shouting, swearing. I could hear the abuse.

'They weren't celebrating as you would expect, they were channelling all this aggression at the people next door. It's awful, totally out of order.

'At the end of the day football is only a game. It's all been blown out of proportion. But you can't blame it solely on the kids — the parents are just as bad themselves.'

Steve's mum Jean said: 'I've lived in this house 32 years and I've never seen anything like this all the time I've been here.

'They are such a lovely family, they don't deserve what they've been through and it's the children I feel for.'

Sgt Gary Neeves, the borough's 'Diversity Officer', responsible for monitoring racist and homophobic incidents and ensuring an appropriate response from the police, said they treated all such incidents very seriously and would be speaking to all the young people involved.