RESIDENTS will welcome police measures to crackdown on bikers causing misery on a Wrexham estate, a community leader has said.

Chair of Caia Park Community Council, Councillor Malcolm King hopes North Wales Police's DNA 'tagging spray' trial, launched on the estate last week will prove a deterrent to off-road bikers creating a nuisance and danger in the area.

Members of the council have urged the police to get to grips with the issue for a number of years now but with the law prohibiting officers from chasing offenders on such vehicles, officers have had to come up with other solutions.

Wynnstay Ward County Cllr King said: "Any potential solution to the problem has got to be seen as a positive as people get extremely upset about the motorbikes and off-road bikes.

"They drive at such speed, it's dangerous and it also creates a lot of noise, and this is happening all hours, from late at night to early in the morning."

Funding to provide officers with SelectaDNA Spray has been given by North Wales Police and Community Trust (PACT) and Caia Park Community Council.

The spray has been used successfully by other forces and will be now be adopted as a pilot in Wrexham with a view of deploying it force wide.

These handheld devices can be sprayed by officers to mark the bikes, clothing and skin of any riders and passengers with an invisible dye. The genetic material in each canister has a unique code which links suspects who are arrested, or any bikes recovered, to the criminal offences.

The DNA spray is a water based product and will not cause any harm, irritation or side effects to receivers of the spray- but it does leave a mark that cannot be scrubbed off and will be visible via UV light from torches and in custody suites for a long period of time.

The Dunks field and Pentre Gwyn are two areas where there have been numerous complaints about the use of off-road bikes, with residents fed up of the noise, and fears people could be injured or even killed.

Cllr King added: "Hopefully this will make people think twice before driving illegally and those that do are now more likely to get caught.

"It is something we have been concerned about for a long time on the community council and I think a lot of us will be very happy to see this happening."