Bury teenager sent to prison

Reporter: Ask Bury
Date online: 19 July 2006

Lucy Smith, an 18 year old from Bury, was sent to prison for 10 weeks, and made subject of a two year Antisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO) after she was arrested for disorderly behaviour in Bury town centre, and then assaulted the Police Officer who had arrested her.

The courts heard that despite other interventions in the past, she had continued to drink to excess, then go out and behave antisocially.

Ms Smith has been arrested 13 times for various offences committed under the influence of alcohol in Bury town centre since October 2003, and that on five occasions, had assaulted police officers when arrested. Due to this catalogue of crime, they decided to make her the subject of an ASBO.

The ASBO bans her from being drunk in public, or possessing or drinking alcohol in public for two years. It also bans her from entering Bury town centre after 9pm for 12 months. If the ASBO is breached, she could face up to five years in prison.

Simon Walton from Greater Manchester Police said: "Alcohol and young people are a potentially dangerous combination; as a result of her repeated offending as a juvenile, this person is now effectively banned from going out for a drink for the next two years until she is 20. We have successfully applied for other ASBOs that ban people from drinking or being drunk in public, or entering licensed premises in Bury, and will continue to do so for anyone else who cannot behave under the influence of drink."

Councillor Tony Isherwood Executive Member for Safe, Strong and Confident Communities said: "Violence and antisocial behaviour will simply not be tolerated in Bury. We will continue to enforce prosecutions and take a firm approach to anyone behaving in an antisocial way in our town."