Wakefield Express court reporter Charlie Bullough has cut through the red tape surrounding bolt-on anti-social behaviour order cases to win the right to name a persistent young offender.

The Section 49 order protecting 16-year-old Ashley Atkinson, who was made the subject of an ASBO, was lifted after Charlie made a five-minute representation to magistrates at Wakefield Youth Court.

Bolt-on ASBOs imposed on youths have been notoriously difficult to report because of the switch from criminal to civil proceedings, which often results in papers being able to name the subject but not report the nature of the criminal offences which have led to the imposition of the ASBO.

Charlie, who has worked at the Express for four years, said: “I’d been following Ashley Atkinson’s case for months and heard the facts when he pleaded.

“I told the court clerk before we started that I’d like to lift all the reporting restrictions and she asked me to make representations to the magistrates.

“I explained the law on Section 49 orders (Children and Young Persons Act 1933) on bolt-on ASBO cases had changed as recently as April. Automatic restrictions are no longer in force on the civil part of the application but the court still has discretion to make a Section 39 order to protect the defendant’s identity.

“I said Section 49 still applied to the criminal part of the proceedings and we were left with a strange situation where you could fully identify him on one part of the court case but not on the other.”

Charlie told magistrates that the persistent young offender had had anonymity in all his previous hearings and it hadn’t deterred him from offending, and stressed the need for open justice.

Charlie said: “I knew Atkinson had shunted a police car three times and how he’d also zoomed passed a junior school at 60mph at home time.

“I thought I had strong public interest grounds to mount a successful challenge to all reporting restrictions under the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997.

“I also told magistrates how ASBOs needed publicity so they could be policed by the community, which was at risk from offenders like Atkinson.”

Atkinson’s solicitor opposed the bid to lift reporting restrictions on the criminal case, saying that it was going “over the top”, but bench chairman John Wilkinson agree to lift all reporting restrictions.