They plague neighbourhoods. They bully, terrorise and abuse. But Ann Widdecombe has had enough.

In her latest crusade she’s taking on girl gangs – including the hard-core gangs who carry knives and commit vicious assaults on people, as well as the groups of girls who hang around on street corners intimidating residents – and she’s in no mood to pussy-foot around.

This film sees Ann examining the havoc young groups of girls are wreaking in our communities.

In her usual forthright manner, Ann tackles the problem head-on, spending an evening out with a young mum who carried out violent attacks including stabbing a man in the neck and leaving him for dead.

Kim, 24, from London, tells Ann that since then she has tried to break away from gang life but her old self re-emerged again on a night out when she got into a fight with a man and “smashed his head in”.

Anxious Ann agrees to go out for a drink with Kim and her friends and is horrified when they tell her they have easy access to guns and Kim says she still carries a knife to this day.

Ann says: “One moment I thought I was talking to perfectly normal, kindly women, the next moment I was hearing stories about how it was defensible to carry knives, indeed almost necessary and justifiable to carry knives, how they could get a gun if they had to within about five minutes.

“And all of this was from women who want to put it all behind them and have a different way of life. It was certainly an eye opener.”

Ann also observes first hand the drunken and downright anti-social behaviour of a group of girls from Birmingham. She spends the evening with them as they trail the streets with up to 50 of their male and female pals, drinking and shouting.

The police move the gang on but they re-group on a housing estate and Ann is there as the night descends into chaos with some of the youths turning violent and attacking a local resident.

The three girls Ann is following are not directly involved, but one of them argues with her when she suggests the teenagers’ behaviour is linked to their drinking habits.

Ann goes home with one of the group to see how her parents are handling her behaviour and is shocked to discover she has been out all night. Eighteen-year-old Zara already has a criminal conviction for being drunk and disorderly but she insists she isn’t sorry and has no regrets.

Her mum tells Ann she is worried about what will happen to her daughter and fears one day she may come to serious harm. In an effort to shock Zara and her friends into changing their behaviour Ann takes them to spend a day in a prison.

The girls are shown the inside of the cells and meet two prisoners – one serving life for murdering someone while fuelled with alcohol, and the other convicted of a serious assault she committed while drunk.

The girls tell the prisoners they think jail looks quite easy – but they are soon set straight.

One of the prisoners, who remains anonymous, tells the girls: “Jail’s not an easy place, it’s not, it’s really miserable in here, and sad and lonely. And you would hate it. Six years I’ve been away. I came in here when I was 16.

“I’m in until I’m 24. I got a life sentence for murder. I was drinking all the time, I thought I was god’s gift, and one night something happened with a knife and now I’m doing a life sentence. I’m just telling you how easy it is to get involved.”

Weeks after their visit the film catches up with the girls to see if their attitudes and lifestyles have changed.

Ann also meets one ex-girl gang member who talks about her journey to turn her life around after serving 10 months for attacking someone. She explains how a drama group has helped her to re-focus her energy and kept her away from her old ways.

And, experts chat to Ann about the behaviour she has witnessed and give an insight into why girl gangs form and what can be done to control them.

Ann says: “When I first started to make this programme, I admit that I was sceptical. Sure, I knew girl gangs existed, but surely there were more pressing issues?

“But…what I’ve found has been genuinely shocking. Young girls, some very young, not only out of control but inflicting quite serious violence. They need to know that they will be caught and punished.

“But we need to know that now that things have gone this far, punishment alone isn’t going to sort it. We need some pretty active intervention.”

Thursday, 18 September 2008, 9:00PM – 10:00PM, ITV1