Bath Chronicle reporter Aliya Frostick stood up in court to convince magistrates to allow a ten-year-old tearaway to be named.

Bath magistrates, following Aliya's compelling argument, ruled that the youngster, who would normally enjoy anonymity when appearing in court, should be named and shamed in the public interest after being made subject to an anti-social behaviour order.

She said: "I argued that in order to convey the seriousness of the court's sentence and to reinforce the public's faith in the local justice system they ought to allow his identity to be disclosed.

"I quoted from McNae's Essential Law for Journalists, which the magistrates then referred to in deciding in The Chronicle's favour.

"It was a bit intimidating at first but I made a convincing and thorough case."

The youngster had been involved in a total of 32 incidents in the space of just three months. His reign of terror included stealing from Bath businesses, threatening tourists, attempting to hurt young children in a playground and, it is even alleged he had killed ducks in the park.

Magistrates' chairwoman Kay Millard said: "We are conscious that justice must be open to the public and that there must therefore be good reason to impose restrictions.

"Age itself, according to the law, is not good enough. We have taken the view that there is a strong public interest in this case and that we need to reflect the seriousness of [the] behaviour so that it may, although we cannot guarantee this of course, be a deterrent to others.

"We believe that any kudos will be balanced by the reaction of those members of the wider community who disapprove of such behaviour."

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