A

16-year-old boy has become the first in Greater Manchester to be convicted of

persistently possessing alcohol in a public place.

Kieran

Aspinall, born 23/1/94, of Devonshire Road, Atherton, pleaded guilty at Wigan

Youth Court to the offence, which falls under Section 30 of the Policing and

Crime Act 2009.

He

also pleaded guilty to a public order offence by causing harassment, alarm or

distress.

He

was sentenced to a six month youth rehabilitation order with supervision and a

12 hour attendance centre order.

Greater

Manchester Police brought the prosecution after Aspinall was seen drinking

alcohol in public on seven different occasions in the last 12 months.

Officers

had teamed up with Wigan Borough Council and the Youth Offending Service in an

attempt to deal with Aspinall's repeated anti-social

behaviour.

In

January 2010 he signed an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement, undertaking not to

behave in ways that caused alarm, harassment or distress. Part of this

agreement was not to consume alcohol in public places.

He

repeatedly breached this agreement and was caught drinking alcohol seven times

between January and November 2010.

Sergeant

John Connor, of the Atherton, Tyldesley and Astley Neighbourhood Team, said: "This

case shows GMP will use all the powers at its disposal to combat anti-social

behaviour.

Kieran Aspinall was given countless chances to stop

his bad behaviour yet he chose to ignore them to continue to drink in public,

causing the community problems.

"We tried to engage him with various partners in an attempt

to persuade him to curb his drinking but in the end we had no choice but to

look for alternatives."

Wigan

Council's Cabinet Champion for Neighbourhoods Cllr. Kevin Anderson welcomed the

court's decision.

He

said: "We are committed to tacking anti-social behaviour on our estates

and I applaud the efforts made by both police and Wigan Council neighbourhood

team officers in securing this result.

"An

entire community can be affected by the behaviour of one or two individuals, so

this result sends a clear message to offenders that threatening, abusive and

intimidating behaviour will not be tolerated and if it persists, it will be

dealt with at the highest level."

Aspinall

was also made subject to a criminal anti-social behaviour order (CRASBO) which

prohibit him from possessing alcohol, purchasing alcohol, using threatening

behaviour, congregating in a group and also bans him from an exclusion area

covering Atherton town centre and Tesco's at Atherton.

The

full conditions are as follows:

1.

Having in his possession any open can / bottle / vessel containing alcohol

2.

Purchasing any alcohol whilst under the age of 18.

3.

Using foul / abusive / insulting / or threatening word or behaviour to any

person not of the same household.

4.

Congregating in a group of more than four within the local area.