A grieving widower said the gang that lurks outside his home at night deprived his dying wife of any peace in her last weeks.

And, as Gerard McMahon, 62, and family remembered his wife Frances at his Finsbury Park home following her funeral on Tuesday last week, one member of what he believes to be the same group kicked through the front door in another heartless act of disrespect captured on his CCTV camera.

Mr McMahon, who has been taking a stand against gangs in the area for years, provided round-the-clock care for his 57-year-old wife at their home in St Thomas’s Road for three months as she battled terminal cancer.

‘Nightmares’

But rowdy youths congregating outside in the evenings often prevented Mrs McMahon, who was confined to the front-facing living room, from sleeping – making the situation Mr McMahon described as “a million nightmares combined” even harder.

He said: “Whilst my wife was dying of cancer in the front room the yobs were playing outside. She couldn’t even die in peace.

“They create one hell of a racket. There are five to 10 of them and you ask them to move and they say: ‘My dad is a nutter, he is going to make sandwiches out of you!’”

He added: “It was my wife’s greatest wish was to get out of this area and I’m so sad we didn’t get to.”

Mr McMahon is certain the culprit of last Tuesday’s incident knew it was the day of his wife’s funeral due to the many visitors arriving with flowers.

Furthermore, he said his two-year-old grandson was playing by the front door moment’s before and could have been seriously hurt.

Mr McMahon started filming gang problems around eight years ago on CCTV cameras, capturing muggings, youths with weapons, vandalism and anti-social behaviour, helping secure convictions for five gang members.

But it has come at a cost – several bricks have been thrown through his windows, his car has been doused in acid, he has been spat on in the street and been the victim of three violent attacks, one of which left him on death’s door.

A police spokeswoman confirmed they were investigating and urged witnesses to call Det Con Stacy Davis on 020 7421 0149 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.