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| North east's first asbo man back in court for 116th conviction | North east's first asbo man back in court for 116th conviction |
| (30 days later) | |
| Academic researchers into the effectiveness or otherwise of anti-social behaviour orders will no doubt want to have this one in their data. | Academic researchers into the effectiveness or otherwise of anti-social behaviour orders will no doubt want to have this one in their data. |
| Dexter Ferguson, who made headlines briefly by being the first person in the north east of England to be given an Asbo, has just gone to prison after his 116th conviction. | Dexter Ferguson, who made headlines briefly by being the first person in the north east of England to be given an Asbo, has just gone to prison after his 116th conviction. |
| That was in 1999, the year after Tony Blair introduced the new penalty as a swift but immediately controversial way of handing down a penalty for relatively minor offences. It was the most eye-catching measure in his campaign to be "tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime," the sixth of New Labour's 1997 general election manifesto's ten commitments. Subsequent audits have cast doubt on its effectiveness and there has been much mockery of asbo detail which ranges from a ban on wearing one golf glove (the mark of a Manchester gang) to guarantees of good behaviour by the owner of an accident-prone herd of escaping pigs. Ferguson does not appear to give any encouragement for remaining supporters of the penalty, whose eventual doom was signalled in 2010 by the Home Secretary Theresa May. | That was in 1999, the year after Tony Blair introduced the new penalty as a swift but immediately controversial way of handing down a penalty for relatively minor offences. It was the most eye-catching measure in his campaign to be "tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime," the sixth of New Labour's 1997 general election manifesto's ten commitments. Subsequent audits have cast doubt on its effectiveness and there has been much mockery of asbo detail which ranges from a ban on wearing one golf glove (the mark of a Manchester gang) to guarantees of good behaviour by the owner of an accident-prone herd of escaping pigs. Ferguson does not appear to give any encouragement for remaining supporters of the penalty, whose eventual doom was signalled in 2010 by the Home Secretary Theresa May. |
| He has appeared in court every year since 1992, with his asbos leaving no discernable trace on this record. Only last month, he was given a 'lifetime asbo' whose survival beyond any action taken to abolish the measure by May could in future prove an interesting legal case. Recorder Jonathan Sandiford issued the order at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Crown court, saying: | He has appeared in court every year since 1992, with his asbos leaving no discernable trace on this record. Only last month, he was given a 'lifetime asbo' whose survival beyond any action taken to abolish the measure by May could in future prove an interesting legal case. Recorder Jonathan Sandiford issued the order at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Crown court, saying: |
| I am satisfied that it is necessary in particular to protect people in the area of Sunderland where the defendant ordinarily lives. | I am satisfied that it is necessary in particular to protect people in the area of Sunderland where the defendant ordinarily lives. |
| Ferguson had to sign agreement to five behaviour rules before leaving court, but he was soon back in front of a judge, down the coast in Sunderland. This time, he was charged with communicating false information by 'phoning police to say that there was a bomb on a Stagecoach bus travelling between Durham and Sunderland. | Ferguson had to sign agreement to five behaviour rules before leaving court, but he was soon back in front of a judge, down the coast in Sunderland. This time, he was charged with communicating false information by 'phoning police to say that there was a bomb on a Stagecoach bus travelling between Durham and Sunderland. |
| He has been jailed for eight days, which comes on top of several previous terms for drunkenness and violence, 130 arrests, the lifelong asbo and other orders which ban him from every pub in Sunderland's city centre and east end. | He has been jailed for eight days, which comes on top of several previous terms for drunkenness and violence, 130 arrests, the lifelong asbo and other orders which ban him from every pub in Sunderland's city centre and east end. |
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