Examples of
ASBOs used against those with mental health problems
Francis McCann - A 27-year-old man who suffers from schizophrenia
given an ASBO. The mental health charity SANE has criticised
the issuing of the order; a spokesman said: "What a person
with serious mental health problems requires is a full assessment
by mental health professionals, resulting in a realistic and
supportive care plan...For many mentally ill people the stigma
and distress caused by an ASBO could make matters even worse
(August 2009)
Sonny Grainger - A 12-year-old boy who suffers from Oppositional
Defiant Disorder given an order (June 2009)
Jamie Cooke - A 24-year-old aggressive beggar, who failed
in a test-case to overturn his order at the High Court, has admitted
breaching it on six occasions. His lawyers had argued that his
ASBO was "unjust and effectively criminalised him"
for his mental health problems. And that Cooke's "emotionally
unstable personality disorder" meant he "cannot help
himself" and was incapable of complying with the order.
He had been diagnosed by a psychiatrist as having a personality
disorder and suffering from post-traumatic stress (November 2008)
Anon
- Neighbours of a woman suffering from severe mental health problems
expressed concern when police revealed they were considering
giving her an ASBO (January 2008)
Amy Beth Dallamura - A 46-year-old who suffers from a serious
emotional disorder who has been rescued by emergency services
over 50 times from suicide attempts, at a cost of over £1
million, has breached her ASBO for the fifth time. It bans her
from going in the sea, onto beaches or onto Aberystwyth's promenade
(December 2007)
Sharon Tinsley - A 21-year-old jailed for the second time for
making nuisance 999 calls (December 2007)
Clive Barker - A 49-year-old "child-like" man who
breached his ASBO twice by playing practical jokes on his neighbours
admitted to hospital to have his mental state assessed (September
2007)
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 installment
of a family feud (March 2005)
For enquiries or contributions to this site, e-mail asbowatch(at)statewatch.org
