Smiles are slowly returning to the faces of a group of schoolchildren who shocked the town when they told of their fear of crime.

The children, who had written to police with impassioned letters against crime in Keighley, have now taken part in the Partners Against Crime survey.

In February, class 15 pupils aged between ten and 11, from St Andrew's School wrote open letters, speeches and drew posters to highlight their fear of crime.

Featured on the front page of the Keighley News, the pupils hid behind tearful masks, scared to be identified. Their speeches outlined their fears, concerns and shame at crime in Keighley.

Since then local PC David Brown has continued to work closely with the school to explain to the children what is being done to combat crime in the town.

The pupils took part in the launch of Keighley Partners Against Crime week and teacher Shirley Davids says they are still concerned about crime and personal safety issues.

The children's completed Partners Against Crime questionnaires reveal that they are very affected by drug and alcohol abuse and intimidated by anti social behaviour. They call for increased police presence. One writes: "We can have more policemen or dogs trained to sniff drugs. And more cameras around."

Other ideas included the suggestion to have an anti-racism group or summer scheme where people can 'talk and have fun together'.

Pupils also stressed the importance of education in cutting crime and endorsed 'anti crime clubs and lessons at school'.

Mrs Davids said: "We have continued to work with the class and they are beginning to realise that something is changing. Because there have been no recent occurrences, I think they feel much safer.

"They have learned how to express themselves and they are more confident with their opinions and are developing their own views. They are benefiting from ongoing work with PC Dave Brown who has been teaching the pupils to say no in pressured situations and we will continue this work."

Other completed surveys received by the Keighley News, call for an increase in police foot patrols in all areas.

Residents in Haworth were particularly concerned about the problem of youths gathering in gangs in the village.

One wrote: "The youths in Haworth are totally out of control and nobody seems to care."

The need for a crackdown on shops selling alcohol to underage drinkers and the importance of parental control was also stressed.

Other respondents did not accept that crime had fallen and said that much crime went unreported because of a lack of confidence in police and fear of reprisals. The completed surveys will be studied by the Keighley Partners Against Crime committee, which hopes to identify people's main concerns and establish a strategy to deal with them.

Keighley police divisional commander Chief Superintendent Graham Sunderland said: "This was an extremely successful week and has given us a firm foundation to build on for the future.

"For the children of St Andrew's to come forward in this way and make their views known, with positive comments is so encouraging."