A TERROR teen will spend Christmas behind bars after he breached an anti-social behaviour injunction little more than a month after it was made by magistrates.

Swindon justices ruled that Walcot boy Kenton Knight could be identified by the press, saying his offences in the community meant he had lost the right to remain anonymous.

Sentencing him to a two-month detention and training order, magistrates accused Knight of having shown a complete disregard for court orders.

Knight’s Mum asked custody officers if she could give the teen a cuddle before he was taken down. She said: “So he’s going to be away for Christmas. He’s only a boy.”

In October, 14-year-old Knight was handed a 12-month anti-social behaviour injunction banning him from being at Cavendish Square, Sussex Place shops in Walcot, Buckhurst Community Centre and the Queens Drive Burger King unless he was with a parent or guardian.

Burger King, Queens Drive Picture: DAVE COX

He must be at school between 9am and 3pm and not associate with a 17-year-old currently subject to an interim criminal behavioural order.

Were he to break any of the terms of the injunction Knight was told by magistrates he could expect to be arrested and put before the courts.

Within six weeks Knight had breached the injunction. He admitted being at the junction of Frobisher Drive and Raleigh Avenue during the day – at a time when he should have been at school or at home.

Magistrates made the injunction last month after hearing that baby-faced Knight had been linked to a spate of anti-social behaviour in Walcot and the Parks.

It was said there was a modicum of hero status that attached to the teenager. Were it to be known that he had received the equivalent of an ASBO he would thrive on the publicity, the council’s lawyer told JPs in a bid to keep his name out of the papers.

Julie Coleman, for the Swindon youth offending team, said Knight had been working closely with her team and was making rapid improvements.

“He’s not in himself a bad lad. He is not in himself somebody who should be going to jail today,” she said.

“What he is, is a lad who has not had the greatest of starts, who has not had the medication [for ADHD] he should have.”

Michael New, chairman of the bench, said: “I know you have been in this court many times. You have many court orders against you - and you have shown complete disregard for all those court orders.

Swindon Magistrates' Court

“Miss Coleman and your solicitor have talked at great length on your behalf and they have done their utmost to persuade us to place you on a community order.”

Ruling that Knight could be named in reports of the case, the magistrate added: “Kenton has waived his right to anonymity by repeatedly committing anti-social behaviour in public and behaviours which affect the public detrimentally. Local people who have been affected need to be aware of him and what has happened today.”

Describing the two-month sentence as a welcome result Wiltshire Police’s community co-ordinator for the east Swindon area PCSO Philip Day said: “Knight’s prolific and relentless behaviour in our communities for a significant amount of time has caused alarm and distress to many victims, young and old.

“The injunction served on Knight in October provided clear boundaries that he has clearly chosen to ignore, and as such he has now received today’s sentence.

“We hope that Knight’s time in detention will go some way in changing his offending behaviour when he returns back into the community.”