Scourge gets Rose Hill ban

8:55am Thursday 18th January 2007

Comments (18)   Have your say »

Sgt Graham Pink at Rose Hill where teenager Ricky Byles has been banned from parts of the estate Neighbours living in fear of yobs at Rose Hill, Oxford, last night welcomed an antisocial behaviour order banning a teenager from the estate for two years.

Ricky Byles, 17, was forbidden by Oxford magistrates from entering most of Rose Hill under the two-year order, with the exception of Dashwood Road, Spencer Crescent, Rowney Place and Courtland Road.

Byles, of Sherwood Place, Barton, had been involved in 25 incidents in the area in the past eight months, including antisocial behaviour, criminal activity and breaching a dispersal order, prosecutors said.

One Rose Hill resident said: "He's one of the worst ones we've got and if he's been barred from the estate, that's great news."

But another added: "It's only one of a large number of troublemakers."

A dispersal zone - Oxford's first - was introduced on the estate last August in a bid to tackle ongoing problems with antisocial behaviour, vandalism and intimidation.

It gives police the power to break up gangs and move them on.

But residents have criticised its effectiveness and said police are not doing enough to enforce it.

Oxford Police Commander Jim Trotman said the decision to take action against Byles showed they were taking the situation in Rose Hill seriously.

He added: "Whilst he's an individual best described as an extreme nuisance, he's been making people's lives a misery in that neighbourhood.

"The police and city council will not tolerate such behaviour and we will continue to punish any individual who behaves in this manner.

"We will seek to use all possible means and the full weight of the law."

Posters featuring a photograph of Byles and a list of the areas he may and may not enter will be put up shortly so that the public can help police enforce the ban.