Teenager target of first NI Asbo

This is the first Asbo to be granted in Northern Ireland

A teenager has become the first person in Northern Ireland to be the subject of an Anti Social Behaviour Order.

The interim order applies to a youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons. A full hearing will take place in June.

The Asbo places restrictions on the 15-year-old's behaviour and his movements over the next eight weeks in Coleraine Borough Council area.

Asbos are aimed at preventing behaviour which causes alarm or distress to others.

The legislation came into force in the province last August.

'Important message'

Chief Inspector Dianne Crockard, from the Police Service Community Safety Branch, said Asbos are an "important addition" to the range of responses available to deal with anti-social behaviour.

"We are hopeful that further applications will be successful in the near future in various parts of Northern Ireland against various individuals," she said.

"The circumstances of the first case are peculiar in as much as they relate to a young person who cannot be identified but there is an important underlying message for communities.

"Those who indulge in anti-social behaviour should now be in no doubt that Asbos will be one of a number of measures which are deployed to deal with their activities.

"Communities which have suffered from anti-social behaviour now have proof that police and relevant agencies will use all available powers to make communities safer."