ianstone
05-05-2010, 06:25 AM
judge said Asbo ruling would 'breach human rights'
By Andrew Levy (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Andrew+Levy)
Last updated at 9:19 AM on 5th May 2010
Comments (263) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1271851/Judge-says-Asbo-ruling-low-slung-trousers-breach-human-rights.html#comments)
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http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/05/04/article-1271851-096CD501000005DC-523_233x566.jpg Asbo ruling: Ellis Drummond leaving Bedford magistrates' court. He had been facing a ban on wearing low-slung trousers and hooded tops
A teenager has struck an unwelcome victory for young thugs after an order to stop him wearing low-slung trousers and a hooded top was scrapped because it breached his ‘human rights’.
Ellis Drummond, 18, a violent offender and drug user, faced a ban on the clothing because he was considered to be wearing it in an ‘intimidatory manner’.
Critics said the decision amounted to the human rights of the criminal being put above those of ordinary people.
The Crown Prosecution Service had applied for him to receive an anti-social behaviour order preventing him from ‘wearing trousers so low beneath the waistline that members of the public are able to see his underwear’ and any tops ‘with the hood up’.
But it withdrew the request following a complaint backed by District Judge Nicholas Leigh-Smith, who told Bedford Magistrates’ Court: ‘Some of the requirements struck me as contrary to the Human Rights Act.’
Instead Drummond, of Rushden in Northamptonshire, was given a four-year Asbo prohibiting him from using threatening behaviour, begging, or entering the grounds of Bedford College.
After the hearing, Drummond claimed victory, saying the original terms of the Asbo were ‘silly’.
‘My sister said they wouldn’t be able to put in those conditions,’ he said.
‘It’s like they’re trying to change the way I dress.’
He was backed by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, which claimed the original Asbo would have been ‘completely unenforceable’.
Director Alex Deane said: ‘The proper punishment for the comically low-riding trousers favoured by some people is that we all think they look ridiculous.’
But John Midgley, founder of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, complained the CPS’s decision not to pursue the clothing ban meant the ‘human rights of the criminal are put above the human rights of innocent people’.
‘Many people use hoods to hide their faces when they are up to no good,’ he added.
A precedent for including clothing in the terms of an Asbo was set in 2005 when 16-year-old Dale Carroll from Cheetham, Manchester, became the first person in the country to be banned from wearing a hooded top.
The five-year Asbo was imposed after Carroll terrorised his community by attacking residents, throwing fireworks at cyclists, and attempting to cut down a lamppost with a chainsaw.
Bedfordshire Police drafted an Asbo for Drummond in an attempt to stop his run of crimes, which included convictions for assault, possession of class B drugs and a public order offence.
But just before the hearing on April 27, his solicitor, Simon Campbell, spoke to prosecutor Jim Davis and it was agreed the terms of the Asbo, which were to be enforced in the borough of Bedford, should be changed.
The final version stated: ‘He must not approach any person and aggressively beg of them money or personal items.
‘He is not to use threatening or abusive behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as himself. He cannot go to Bedford College.’
Details of the changes were handed in to the court, where Mr Leigh-Smith confirmed the prosecution would have ‘failed’ to convince him the bans were necessary.
A spokesman for the CPS said: ‘The prohibitions contained in the notice to the court were drafted by police and subsequently endorsed by the CPS.
‘Before the court hearing, and following discussions with Drummond’s defence solicitor, it was decided that several of the prohibitions were no longer necessary or proportionate to protect the public from further acts of anti-social behaviour.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1271851/Judge-says-Asbo-ruling-low-slung-trousers-breach-human-rights.html#ixzz0n4ff2aN1 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1271851/Judge-says-Asbo-ruling-low-slung-trousers-breach-human-rights.html#ixzz0n4ff2aN1)
I'm getting old, apparently this is the latest fashion
By Andrew Levy (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Andrew+Levy)
Last updated at 9:19 AM on 5th May 2010
Comments (263) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1271851/Judge-says-Asbo-ruling-low-slung-trousers-breach-human-rights.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1271851/Judge-says-Asbo-ruling-low-slung-trousers-breach-human-rights.html)
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/05/04/article-1271851-096CD501000005DC-523_233x566.jpg Asbo ruling: Ellis Drummond leaving Bedford magistrates' court. He had been facing a ban on wearing low-slung trousers and hooded tops
A teenager has struck an unwelcome victory for young thugs after an order to stop him wearing low-slung trousers and a hooded top was scrapped because it breached his ‘human rights’.
Ellis Drummond, 18, a violent offender and drug user, faced a ban on the clothing because he was considered to be wearing it in an ‘intimidatory manner’.
Critics said the decision amounted to the human rights of the criminal being put above those of ordinary people.
The Crown Prosecution Service had applied for him to receive an anti-social behaviour order preventing him from ‘wearing trousers so low beneath the waistline that members of the public are able to see his underwear’ and any tops ‘with the hood up’.
But it withdrew the request following a complaint backed by District Judge Nicholas Leigh-Smith, who told Bedford Magistrates’ Court: ‘Some of the requirements struck me as contrary to the Human Rights Act.’
Instead Drummond, of Rushden in Northamptonshire, was given a four-year Asbo prohibiting him from using threatening behaviour, begging, or entering the grounds of Bedford College.
After the hearing, Drummond claimed victory, saying the original terms of the Asbo were ‘silly’.
‘My sister said they wouldn’t be able to put in those conditions,’ he said.
‘It’s like they’re trying to change the way I dress.’
He was backed by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, which claimed the original Asbo would have been ‘completely unenforceable’.
Director Alex Deane said: ‘The proper punishment for the comically low-riding trousers favoured by some people is that we all think they look ridiculous.’
But John Midgley, founder of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, complained the CPS’s decision not to pursue the clothing ban meant the ‘human rights of the criminal are put above the human rights of innocent people’.
‘Many people use hoods to hide their faces when they are up to no good,’ he added.
A precedent for including clothing in the terms of an Asbo was set in 2005 when 16-year-old Dale Carroll from Cheetham, Manchester, became the first person in the country to be banned from wearing a hooded top.
The five-year Asbo was imposed after Carroll terrorised his community by attacking residents, throwing fireworks at cyclists, and attempting to cut down a lamppost with a chainsaw.
Bedfordshire Police drafted an Asbo for Drummond in an attempt to stop his run of crimes, which included convictions for assault, possession of class B drugs and a public order offence.
But just before the hearing on April 27, his solicitor, Simon Campbell, spoke to prosecutor Jim Davis and it was agreed the terms of the Asbo, which were to be enforced in the borough of Bedford, should be changed.
The final version stated: ‘He must not approach any person and aggressively beg of them money or personal items.
‘He is not to use threatening or abusive behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as himself. He cannot go to Bedford College.’
Details of the changes were handed in to the court, where Mr Leigh-Smith confirmed the prosecution would have ‘failed’ to convince him the bans were necessary.
A spokesman for the CPS said: ‘The prohibitions contained in the notice to the court were drafted by police and subsequently endorsed by the CPS.
‘Before the court hearing, and following discussions with Drummond’s defence solicitor, it was decided that several of the prohibitions were no longer necessary or proportionate to protect the public from further acts of anti-social behaviour.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1271851/Judge-says-Asbo-ruling-low-slung-trousers-breach-human-rights.html#ixzz0n4ff2aN1 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1271851/Judge-says-Asbo-ruling-low-slung-trousers-breach-human-rights.html#ixzz0n4ff2aN1)
I'm getting old, apparently this is the latest fashion