Yob wins right to wear trousers that show his underpants after judge said Asbo ruling would 'breach human rights'

 

Asbo ruling: Ellis Drummond leaving Bedford magistrates court. He had been facing a ban on wearing low-slung trousers and hooded tops

A teenager has struck a victory for young thugs after an order to stop him wearing low-slung trousers and a hooded top was scrapped because it breached his 'human rights'.

Violent offender and drug user Ellis Drummond, 18, was facing a ban on the clothing worn by many young people because he was considered to be using it in an intimidatory manner.

Critics said today the decision amounted to the human rights of the criminal being put above the human rights of innocent people.

The Crown Prosecution Service had applied for him to receive an anti-social behaviour order preventing him from 'wearing trousers so low beneath the waistline that members of the public are able to see his underwear' and any tops 'with the hood up'.

But it withdrew the request following a complaint that was backed by District Judge Nicholas Leigh-Smith, who told Bedford Magistrates Court: 'Some of the requirements struck me as contrary to the Human Rights Act.'

Instead Drummond, of Rushden in Northamptonshire, was given a four-year ASBO prohibiting him from using threatening behaviour, begging, or entering the grounds of Bedford College.

After the hearing, Drummond claimed victory, saying the original terms of the ASBO were 'silly'.

'My sister said they wouldn't be able to put in those conditions. It's like they're trying to change the way I dress,' he said.

He was backed by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, which said the original ASBO would have been 'completely unenforceable'.

But director Alex Deane added: 'The proper punishment for the comically low-riding trousers favoured by some people is that we all think they look ridiculous.'

John Midgley, founder of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, complained the CPS's decision not to pursue the clothing ban meant the 'human rights of the criminal are put above the human rights of innocent people'.

He added: 'Many people use hoods to hide their faces when they are up to no good.'

A precedent for including clothing in the terms of an ASBO was set in 2005 when 16-year-old Dale Carroll from Cheetham, Manchester, became the first person in the country to be banned from wearing a hooded top.

The five-year ASBO was imposed after the teenager terrorised his community by attacking people, throwing fireworks at cyclists, and attempting to cut down a lamppost with a chainsaw.

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