SUFFOLK is leading the way, when it comes to applying for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders to stop hooligans, the Evening Star can reveal today.Ipswich Borough Council has applied for 11 ASBOs so far this year - asking magistrates to make an order on people accused of making a nuisance of themselves - and ten were granted including one on teenage gang member David Dixon last Monday.

By Tracey Sparling

SUFFOLK is leading the way, when it comes to applying for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders to stop hooligans, the Evening Star can reveal today.

Ipswich Borough Council has applied for 11 ASBOs so far this year - asking magistrates to make an order on people accused of making a nuisance of themselves - and ten were granted including one on teenage gang member David Dixon last Monday.

That is believed to be more than any other area in the eastern region, and has attracted government interest.

Applications are backed by police evidence, and if the two-year orders are then broken the culprit is punished by magistrates.

The aim is to stop anti-social behaviour which causes harassment alarm or distress to one or more people, who do not come from the same household as the offender.

The success rate prompted an official from the Home Office to visit Ipswich Borough Council to research how applications are prepared.

Jim Manning, borough community safety officer, said: "He spent time with council officers and the police, going through what we did, what problems we encountered, what plus points there were, and if we had any comments about feedback from the courts."

Chief Inspector John Fletcher said magistrates' feedback explaining why one application had failed, had been welcomed by police and the council's legal services department.

ASBO orders imposed in Ipswich:

Glue sniffer JOHN POTKINS, of High Street Saxmundham becomes the first person to have an anti-social order made against him by Ipswich Borough Council.

He assaulted a man when he was high on Evo Stick.

ANTHONY WARNE showed that it is not just youngsters who can be targeted after he was subjected to an Asbo because of his alcohol related problem behaviour.

LINSEY KILPATRICK, 21 was clamped down on for crimes including assault and drunk and disorderly behaviour.

LUKE SINGLETON, 14 was banned from shops near his home after carrying out a reign of terror against staff and shoppers

KEITH LEATHERS and RYAN WADE – the 16 year olds were banned from Co-op stores for unacceptable behaviour over a two year period.

TIRAN GULL, 14 started a three year banning order in February for terrorising his neighbours with a torrent of verbal, racial and physical abuse.

THOMAS CROWLEY, 16 of Shackleton Road and JASON NICHOLLS, 17 of Drake Avenue got a two year ban from shops and roads around the Nacton Road estate for causing havoc in the area.

DAVID DIXON, 17, Drake Avenue – third member of the Gainsborough gang to be barred from shops and some streets in the area and can only enter Queensway with his mum.