The Plymouth Evening Herald has hit back after being criticised on TV for naming two teenage brothers who were made the subject of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.

The paper successfully applied to name 14-year-old Darren Carter-Moore and his 17-year-old brother Ashleigh with the support of Plymouth City Council, which asked for the orders to be imposed.

But in a BBC Spotlight report the Evening Herald was criticised for identifying the boys, who absconded from the court on the second day of the scheduled five-day hearing.

And it was suggested by the BBC programme that the boys had run away because they were named.

But the paper only made its application to name them after the order, which bans them from two Plymouth neighbourhoods, was granted in their absence.

The paper splashed the news of the ASBOs on its front page with photographs of the boys provided by their sister.

That day the BBC’s lunchtime news bulletin reported that a local paper had named the teenagers and said it would be the subject of a studio discussion that evening.

In its BBC Spotlight programme – which no one from the paper or the council attended – the paper was criticised for naming the boys and claimed that naming them had caused them to run away.

Evening Herald editor Alan Qualtrough said: “But where was the BBC during the court proceedings or when the Evening Herald made the application to lift restrictions?

“No BBC reporter was there – they had missed the story.

“And that is why they got it wrong.

“Contrary to the BBC Spotlight report, the boys went missing on the second day of the scheduled five-day hearing, not after its conclusion.

“In other words the boys put two fingers up to the law and the fact that they went on the run is not connected to their naming.”

He added: “The Evening Herald named Darren Carter-Moore and his brother Ashleigh because we are not afraid to stand up for our community.

“We are not afraid to demand a decent city for decent people and we will campaign tirelessly for this.

“We believe that every Plymouth citizen has a right to live in peace and is able to walk our streets without fear or harassment. And we will fiercely defend this principle.

“One principal of the ASBO is that by publicising the names of offenders the community is made aware of the identities of troublemakers so future misbehaviour can be reported to the police.

“This is why when the Evening Herald properly applied to the court to name the brothers the council supported us. And what is more the judge obviously agreed.”

The application was not opposed by the the boys’ solicitor.

The teenagers disappeared before they could be served with orders but have since been found.

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