A regional daily newspaper was able to name two teenage burglars after successfully challenging reporting restrictions.

Court reporter Stuart Abel, from Plymouth’s The Herald, applied to have restrictions lifted for two 16-year-old troublemakers at a youth court hearing in the city.

He handed a letter to District Judge Paul Farmer at a hearing last week where David Rice and Charlie Mitchell admitted burglary offences.

The judge agreed to lift the Section 49 order, which automatically gives anonymity to defendants in youth courts under the Children and Young Persons Act, because of the pair’s regular offending and its impact on the community.

Stuart said: “Regardless of whether somebody is 16 or 26, people living in tight knit communities are often living in fear of youths who harass them and burgle their homes.

“They need to know that the law is dealing with them.”

The Herald reported Rice and Mitchell, who have both been given anti-social behaviour orders previously, carried out a spate of burglaries in the same street after a cocktail of whisky and Valium.

They were arrested and brought to court the next day but after being released on bail, they broke into a garage the same night.

Rice was given a 12-month custodial sentence while Mitchell was given a two-year supervision order and a three-month curfew.