Examples of ASBOs used against those with mental health problems

Katie & Ashleigh Lynch - 19-year-old identical twins currently subject to an interim order for unruly behaviour have been found to suffer from Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. Despite this police will attempt to have a full ASBO imposed at a hearing later this year (August 2007)

Danny Walsh - An 53-year-old with severe learning and communication difficulties, and a string of court appearances going back over 20 years, given a two-year order (March 2007)

Anita Bernard - An 18-year-old who suffers from schizophrenia given an order (February 2007)

Danny Henderson - A 23-year-old with mental health problems threatened with an order (November 2006)

Thomas O'Brien - A homeless man with mental health problems arrested for breaching his order (October 2006)

Mark Smith - A 32-year-old with Asperger's syndrome has been banned from touching people and saying inappropriate things in public (June 2006)

William Atkinson - A 45-year-old with a history of hoarding 'rubbish and putrid waste' was arrested for breaching his order which forbids him from doing so. In interview Atkinson said Uncle Bulgaria, a character from the children's series the Wombles, had told him to collect the rubbish. In court his lawyer said: "This is a very difficult situation, there has been a clinical diagnosis of severe personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder and recently he has started hearing voices in his head." He also said these diagnoses were made in 1983 (June 2005)

Mark Anthony O'Byrne - A 37-year-old with a personality disorder banned from possessing a mobile phone after a string of hoax calls to emergency services (April 2005)

Margaret Porter - A 50-year-old woman with a paranoid personality disorder served a six year order after she threw three sticks of rhubarb at her brother in the latest instalment of a family feud (March 2005)

For enquiries or contributions to this site, e-mail asbowatch(at)statewatch.pipal.net