'Please lock me up...my Asbo isn't working': teenage girl pleads to be jailed

Hollie Watson admitted breaching the antisocial behaviour order and warned she would commit more crime if she was allowed to stay free.

So the court followed her request and sentenced her to eight months' detention.

Watson had been given a threeyear Asbo in May following a series of public order offences.

At her latest appearance she told magistrates if she had been locked up then, it would have shocked her into cleaning up her act.

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The order contained nine conditions including banning her from causing harassment, alarm or distress to anyone not living in her household.

It also banned her from every Asda store in Britain and demanded she abide by a curfew at her home in Gosport, Hampshire, or that of her grandparents.

However, she repeatedly broke the Asbo conditions.

She was finally arrested after headbutting a man and stealing his tobacco pouch in a drunken attack earlier this month.

After assaulting the man she phoned police to tell them what she had done and even pointed out the victim's house before apologising.

She appeared before Fareham Youth Court, where she admitted robbery and breaching her Asbo.

Watson told magistrates: "My Asbo is not working and I have wasted a lot of public money. I have been stupid and shown off in front of my friends.

"If I had got locked up straight away it would have shocked me into sorting myself out. I was playing a game."

Watson also admitted she would reoffend if she was not imprisoned.

She added: "I will miss my mum. But I'm not mature enough to go back on the streets. If I spend a bit of time locked away I think it would sort me out."

At the original hearing in May, Watson was described as the ringleader of a group of up to 15 youths whose behaviour had spiralled out of control.

Adrian Dodd, defending, blamed her behaviour on drink and drugs. He said:

"Hollie is very intelligent. She has got a real spark and she is immensely capable. But she shows off in front of her friends and commits these silly offences."

Speaking after the hearing, Watson's stepfather Dean Wenban said the Asbo had actually made Watson, who used to be a county-class trampolinist and talented footballer, worse.

He said: "She has done the sensible thing and I am very proud of the decision she made.

"The Asbo just made her an easy target for police and she would retaliate because she is stubborn and can be mouthy."

Mother Christie Wenban added: "She got in with the wrong crowd. She has always been lippy but it used to be in a cheeky way. When she has a drink it changes."

Andrew Mackie, from campaign group Asbo Concern, said the case illustrated how Asbos were handed out with no support, so they were "setting people up to fail".

Solicitor Penny Schofield, from the Portsmouth antisocial behaviour unit said, however, that Asbos worked well in some cases. She said: "Just because there is a breach it is not a failure as often the behaviour will change, although it may take longer for some."

Research by the Youth Justice Board found many young people with Asbos did not understand the restrictions placed upon them which made it more likely that they would breach their conditions.