THE mother of murdered Hereford father Christian Bagley has made a heartbreaking plea for CCTV cameras to be installed along the Great Western Way to stop other families going through the hell her own has faced.

In a statement read out to a public meeting on Thursday night, Janette Bagley said it was a 'sad society' that we lived in if Herefordshire Council could put a price on somebody's life.

The meeting was called by Councillor Chris Chappell to address community concerns following the murder of Mr Bagley on June 21 and other more recent violent assaults.

Many residents who attended the meeting at the Kindle Centre voiced their concerns and frustrations and told police and councillors they did not feel safe. Some left in anger before the meeting had ended.

But reassurances were given that a permanent CCTV camera was to be installed on 'the lines' by the end of September and that gaps in policing due to training would soon be filled.

Other mobile CCTV units could also soon be installed on the footpath, the meeting heard, and local police commander Superintendent Susan Thomas said she was keen to support this with funding.

But Rogers Avenue resident, June Griffiths, who started a petition for the cameras following Mr Bagley's murder, said: "Until you catch whoever did it we are not going to rest. Not at all. And if it takes you 10 years it takes you 10 years but you have got to know that none of us will rest until then."

Superintendent Thomas told residents that over the last couple of months, police had received intelligence in relation to drug dealing on certain parts of the lines.

“We have been running an operation with regards to tackling that and to date have had 16 arrests,” she said.

“Unfortunately nine are individuals who are not Hereford-based and have come some distance, from Birmingham, to target Hereford to do their drug dealing. We have seized thousands of pounds of drugs from the individuals and the operation is still ongoing."

She told residents that her team was committed to ensuring people felt safe and urged them to report any incidents so that the intelligence could be collected.

Prevention work for those dealing with addictions will be tackled when Addaction take over the contract for drugs and alcohol services in December, the meeting heard.

Detective Chief Inspector, Leighton Harding, who is leading the investigation into Mr Bagley's murder, said the investigation was proving to be very challenging on a 'number of fronts' due to the lack of eye-witnesses and time at which the attack happened.

"The very abrupt and violent nature of the assault did not lead there to be any prolonged contact with Christian and his attacker," he added, but said that a number of positive lines of enquiry were being explored.

Police were reviewing hours of CCTV, he said, from more than 100 locations. More than 1,000 individuals have been contacted in the course of enquiries and over 500 statements had been taken from people.

Anyone with any information is urged to call police on 101.