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Two year Asbo for 10-year-old tearaway
Last updated at 15:07pm on 25.04.07A 10-year-old boy has become one of the youngest children in Britain to be given an Asbo. Anthony Bird was made subject to the tough order for two years following a spate of anti-social incidents in Middlesbrough.
He is banned from throwing things, threatening or annoying staff in two local shops, drinking alcohol and using insults and threats.
Redcar and Cleveland Council applied for the Asbo at Teesside Youth Court so that Anthony can "change his ways".
The order was imposed for anti-social behaviour committed between May 2006 and February 2007 in the South Bank area of the town.
Chairman of the bench Sonia Brogden told him: "Things have got very, very serious indeed. You've got to take notice. You've got to stick to these conditions like glue."
Anthony was also given a six-month individual support order, and his father, Nigel Bird, a three-month parenting order - both to help Anthony and steer him the right way.
The magistrates allowed the 10-year-old to be identified after reporting restrictions were lifted following an application from a local newspaper.
Anthony, who lives in Park Avenue, Teesville, is a pupil at Ravensworth Primary School in Normanby. Head Kevin Skelton said: "The Anthony we see at school is clearly a very different young man to the one that roams the streets of South Bank.
"His attitude to school reveals he can choose the way he wishes to behave and I hope from now on he begins to make the right choices.
"I am bitterly disappointed but, sadly, not surprised that Anthony is now the subject of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order.
"He has been a member of our school community for five terms and for much of that time his behaviour has been acceptable.
"He has tried to work within the boundaries we have set him and on those occasions where he has stepped over the mark he has always responded positively to school discipline."
A council spokesman said: "This has been a complicated case which has involved a multi-agency problem-solving approach to reach a situation where we hope we can get Anthony to change his ways.
"Of course we recognise his young age, but we felt it was necessary to seek this Asbo in a bid to prevent further acts of anti-social behaviour.
"We never apply for an Asbo without careful consideration but we are comfortable this order is proportionate to the problems being encountered by others.
"We firmly believe the Asbo will act as both protection for the public and an incentive for Anthony to improve his behaviour for the benefit of everyone he comes into contact with."
