A CONTROVERSIAL device to disperse gangs of youths outside a shop on an Oxford estate has made life ”nice and quiet” for a shopkeeper.

Staff at the Premier Supermarket in Pegasus Road, Blackbird Leys, suffered months of gangs intimidating customers, drinking, drug dealing and littering outside.

To combat the problem a "Mosquito" gadget was put on the shop last August.

It emits a high-pitched buzzing noise that is uncomfortable for under-25s to hear for more than 10 minutes, which encourages them to leave.

One year on, the shopkeeper, who did not want to be named, said it had been a major success.

He said: “It’s been very good, since they put it on the shop it’s been nice and quiet.

“There are no gangs outside anymore and if there are, they soon move on.

“The customers say they are much happier when they come to the shop.”

The inventor of the Mosquito, Howard Stapleton, had trialled his device in a new way at the store.

For the first time ever in the UK, he hooked it up to a CCTV camera and turned the gadget on only when it was needed.

Mr Stapleton last night said: “The device remains on the shop and I’m glad it worked out well for him.”

The device was initially run from a control room in Cardiff and turned on when CCTV showed youths causing a disturbance.

Control has been handed over to the shopkeeper to use.

Mr Stapleton said: “In truth, I haven’t logged on to that system for a long time so I know he’s got no problems.”

He said although the Mosquito had only been a “partial success” for the first couple of months, he had been confident it would work.

He said: “It may take a fortnight, it may take three months but once you’ve broken the back of the problem, the kids move elsewhere.”

Mr Stapleton has previously faced criticism from human rights group Liberty, which branded the technology “degrading and discriminatory”.

But he said sales of the device had increased by 20 per cent every month this year.