PERSISTENT yobs in Babergh have been warned today that they could be named and shamed in letterbox leaflet drops.Hundreds of households across Great Cornard have already received information about 19-year-old Karl Roberts who received an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) last week.

PERSISTENT yobs in Babergh have been warned today that they could be named and shamed in letterbox leaflet drops.

Hundreds of households across Great Cornard have already received information about 19-year-old Karl Roberts who received an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) last week.

Roberts, who used to live in Great Cornard but now lives on a caravan site in Stowmarket, plagued residents with his anti-social behaviour, which included verbal abuse, harassment, and intimidation.

Magistrates in Bury St Edmunds issued the teenager with a three-year Asbo last week and warned him he could face up to five years in prison if he flouted it.

Babergh council has now issued 500 fliers featuring a picture of the 19-year-old and outlining the conditions of his order which includes an exclusion zone in Great Cornard.

And the authority has pledged to continue its name and shame policy in the future on a case by case basis.

Their decision follows Home Office guidance issued earlier this month on the necessity of publicising Asbos to ensure enforcement.

A spokesman for Babergh council, said: "We have followed the Home Office guidance to the letter and they have issued a very detailed list of protocols.

"We are not aware of any other local authority in Suffolk who are doing this and think we are fairly on in the game.

"We thought that this was the most effective way that everyone in the exclusion zone could know about the Asbo."

Despite Babergh's tough stance there has been some criticism that such publicity breaches the individual's human rights and a spokesman for Babergh said he believed a couple of cases were currently going through the courts elsewhere.

Ipswich council is reluctant to introduce such leaflet drops at present feeling newspaper publicity is sufficient.

Andy Solomon, anti-social behaviour network manager for Ipswich, said: "The whole area of leaflet dropping people who are subject to Asbos is very new and we have to give this very careful consideration in order to make sure that this action is compliant with human rights.

"There are no plans to follow this course of action at the present time in Ipswich.

"We feel each case has to be viewed on its merits and if it was felt this was the appropriate and correct course of action we would consider it but we do not have any plans in place at the moment to follow this course of action."