Solicitor says Asbos 'are almost used as a way of tidying up the streets' after woman was remanded in custody for possessing aerosol cans

DEFENCE solicitor Roy Foreman has launched another strong attack on antisocial behaviour orders – claiming they make him "despair".

Mr Foreman, a leading critic of Asbos since they were first introduced, criticised the fact that a troubled young woman was remanded in custody awaiting sentence for possessing aerosol cans.

He said he found it "offensive" that the vulnerable woman faced being jailed as a "way of tidying up the streets" when she had not actually committed any new offences.

Sophie Hunt, 23, who has lived in Grimsby recently, admitted twice breaching her Asbo on July 14 by breaking a condition not to be in possession of aerosol cans.

Brendan Woodward, prosecuting, told Grimsby magistrates that Hunt was found semi-naked and sniffing aerosols in the town's Albert Place.

She was treated by paramedics for the effects of inhaling the hair spray aerosol cans.

She was taken to hospital but was later again found in possession of an aerosol can and was again inhaling it.

Mr Foreman, mitigating, said: "I despair. I really despair. It's 2014 and you can send someone to prison for being in possession of a can of aerosol, even if she's not causing any particular problems to anyone.

"This is a way of dealing with a difficult case by criminalising her. She has done nothing wrong apart from taking some form of a stimulant.

"She is incredibly vulnerable at the moment. You only have to look at her to see how fragile she is. She has no support over her. She has got nowhere to go in Grimsby. There is no one to help her."

Mr Foreman made an impassioned plea for Hunt, who was in custody, to be allowed bail pending sentence.

"If she was being a public nuisance at the time, that would be a different matter but there is no indication that was the case," he said.

"She hasn't been charged with a specific offence. This is almost a way of tidying up the streets and I find that offensive and a very difficult pill to swallow. This is convenience legislation and I am very disheartened by it."

The magistrates refused to allow Hunt bail and remanded her in custody to be sentenced at Grimsby Crown Court, where she is expected to face other matters.

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