Dennis The Menace: 11-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Person To Get A CRASBO

Dennis The Menace: 11-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Person To Get A CRASBO

He might sound like a cartoon character, but being a neighbour to 11-year-old 'Dennis the Menace' is no joke for residents of Kidderminster in Worcestershire.

The boy has been involved in more than 50 separate crimes over the past two years, which led to him getting the comic-book tag. But it has also led to him becoming one of the youngest people in Britain to be given a criminal Asbo after making his neighbours' lives a 'living hell'.

The boy, who cannot be named, received the Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order after a court heard he abused and spat at members of the public. He also kicked taxis and taunted a group of children with learning difficulties.

Kidderminster Youth Court was told the child's actions caused havoc and he attacked other children and even threatened to shoot one with a pellet gun. The boy climbed onto the roofs of buildings, rode his bike the wrong way on roads and hurled stones at vehicles across the town.

The CRASBO was granted following an application by West Mercia Police. It stops him using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour in a public place.

He is also banned from climbing on the roof of any building or associate with another named boy in any public place apart from educational purposes and ordered to attend anger management sessions.

Inspector Paul Crowley, from West Mercia Police, said after the case: "This boy's appalling behaviour has been a cause of misery for people living in the Horsefair area and those using facilities such as St George's Park.

"He has also regularly caused problems in Kidderminster town centre and has been responsible for many complaints to the police.

"Obtaining a Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order is not a step we have taken lightly but he has ignored all our previous efforts to address his behaviour and this is necessary to protect people from his offending.

"We intend to rigorously enforce the order and hopefully the boy now realises how serious this is and that he cannot go on like this.

"If he breaches the order he could be sent to detention for up to five years.

"Residents previously affected by this boy will be notified about the CRASBO but we are also asking anyone who knows him and sees him breaking the terms of the order to call police in Kidderminster immediately."

The boy was given a 12-month intensive referral order incorporating anger management and victim awareness sessions along with a number of other conditions including a three-month curfew. He will also be put on a placement to help people with learning difficulties as part of the order. A six-month parenting order was also made against the boy's mother.

One of his neighbours said: "He is a little menace. People round her have even dubbed him the original Dennis the Menace.

"He might only be a young lad but he's made it his business to make everyone's lives a living hell. "Hopefully this will put him back on the right tracks."

CRASBO's differ from the more commonly known anti-social behaviour order because it comes on the back of a criminal conviction.

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