Law Society’s Gazette, July 1980

Legal confidentiality and the press

Home secretary Theresa May appeared to signal the end of the anti-social behaviour order last week, as she announced a review of asbos. Figures show that more than half of them were breached between 2000 and 2008. But it’s not as if asbos have never been good for anything – regardless of the deterrent effect they may or may not have had on crime, they have certainly provided plenty of entertainment over the years.

The BBC website last week provided a handy rundown of some of the most unusual asbos to have been dished out by the courts. A 60-year-old man from Northampton was banned from dressing as a schoolgirl, or from wearing skirts and showing bare legs on school days at the start and end of school hours. He then breached the asbo by ‘bending over in front of his neighbours repeatedly’. A militant atheist in Salford was banned from carrying religiously offensive material after he left images of religious figures in sexual poses. A shepherd lost the right to graze his sheep in the Forest of Dean after he used his flock of 500 woolly beasts to ‘intimidate neighbours’.

On a legal note, a man in Middlesborough who impersonated a barrister in a string of cases was banned from claiming he was a legally qualified professional. He defended two people on motoring offences and handled several debt cases in the local county court before he was rumbled. He was eventually found out because he ‘became confused over procedure’. Obiter dares not pose the question of whether he was better than some genuine advocates.

No doubt there are some criminal defence solicitors out there who have first-hand knowledge of some equally unusual asbos meted out to clients. Obiter is all ears at obiter@lawsociety.org.uk.