FIVE troublesome youngsters from Needham Market have been added to a blacklist designed to clampdown on petty offences in the town.The quarrelsome quintet were added to the youth nuisance register after being caught trespassing in the swimming pool of Bosmere Primary School in June.

FIVE troublesome youngsters from Needham Market have been added to a blacklist designed to clampdown on petty offences in the town.

The quarrelsome quintet were added to the youth nuisance register after being caught trespassing in the swimming pool of Bosmere Primary School in June.

The register, which has been set up by Suffolk police, targets antisocial behaviour among youngsters under the age of 17.

It results in a letter being sent home to parents advising them to curb their child's behaviour and their names are then added to the list for six months.

Pc Paul Elding, Needham Market's community police officer, said: "The nuisance value of what goes on around here that far outweighs any criminal behaviour and this targets that.

"Some people say we should be concentrating on other things but if you're the victim of these crimes day after day you wouldn't think that."

The scheme was set up to monitor behaviour not serious enough to bring before the courts but which blights the everyday lives of families.

If the delinquent behaviour continues, the county's youth offending service will visit the family to address the situation.

Pc Elding added: "If it stops one child getting involved with us at a later date then I think it's good. It's about nipping the problems in the bud while also making people aware of what's going on.

It's just a way of making parents aware of what their children are doing when they're away from home."

At present there are 28 people in the mid Suffolk area who are on the register.