Mothers will stand for election as a new political force dedicated to combating the growth of yob behaviour.

Reigna Mitchell, 63, of the Downland Estate, Ashington Gardens, Peacehaven, is one of 54 Mums' Army candidates vowing to stand for their local councils.

Women's magazine Take A Break launched the political party three months ago to fight the epidemic of antisocial behaviour.

It is the fastest growing political party in Britain with 10,000 supporters, according to the magazine.

Mrs Mitchell was once a Liberal Democrat councillor on Lewes District Council.

But she has decided to put her name forward as a candidate with Mums' Army.

She said: "Everyone has got to get their life back. We don't like going out at night because we don't know who is behind the next bush. Why should we be scared to go out?"

Mrs Mitchell draws on bitter personal experience.

Three years ago, she and her husband, Arthur, 70, were terrorised by youths aged between three and 14 who made their lives hell.

As a councillor, Mrs Mitchell had the keys to the estate's playground and was responsible for opening it in the mornings and locking it at night.

One night, four boys refused to leave and one of them hit Mrs Mitchell's husband with a skateboard, cutting the side of his head.

When Mr Mitchell threw the skateboard, the boys claimed he broke it.

They harassed the couple for the next nine months - throwing missiles, kicking their door, setting off fireworks in their garden and spitting through their letter box.

The couple installed CCTV and police eventually caught the culprits.

By the time the reign of terror was over, Mrs Mitchell had contemplated taking an overdose of insulin and her husband suffered a heart attack.

Mrs Mitchell said: "I think yobs' behaviour is largely down to additives in food and exhaust fumes from traffic. There is also an element of peer pressure.

"Blair says yobs should be evicted but that only moves the problem from one place to another. Kids need more discipline. We want the right to live in peace."

Another candidate, Pat Martin, 62, from Lewes, said parents and schools need to take more responsibility but are often prevented from handing out appropriate punishment due to the legal system.

She said: "The occasional slap doesn't do any harm. If you can't do that at a young age then kids grow up sticking two fingers up at you. Children just run riot.

"I've been sworn at and threatened in Lewes town centre.

"If enough mums get together then we will have a powerful army and hopefully we can stamp out the menace of yobbish behaviour."

Among the political party's growing army of supporters is Susan Wood.

The 53-year-old care assistant from Worthing has been working in children's homes in the area for seven years.

She said: "There is a lot of yobbish behaviour in Worthing. One man told a boy I was looking after to mind his language and the boy punched him in the face.

"Yobs shoplift, abuse people and smash car windows.

"They go to court and are let off with community service. I'm angry with the system. It seems children can touch you but you can't do anything back.

"Parents need to be made responsible for the actions of their children. But so many of them are on social security that if you fine them they can't actually pay and if you put them in prison, the conditions are better than in their own homes."