Wolverhampton street drunks banned from city centre

The group who were given antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs), along with two others who appeared at an earlier hearing, were guilty of 474 incidents in the past five years.

Wolverhampton Magistrates Court heard they were a nuisance to shopkeepers, abused members of the public and even tried to get a dog to attack passers-by.

Six of the nine, Anthony Loffke, Lee Cooper, Lisa Hayden, Franklin Duberry, Jamie Dyke and Stephen Harper, have been banned from entering the city centre for three years apart from between midday and 3pm on any day of the week.

James Freeman, Louise Shaw and Peter Allatt were banned all day on Sundays as well. All of them were also banned from associating with each other within the city limits, apart from their private addresses.

They were told not to have open containers of alcohol anywhere in Wolverhampton and ordered not to contact any of the witnesses involved in the case.

District Judge Graham Wilkinson said the ASBOs were designed to break up the group, who had committed 387 of the offences in the past 18 months.

He added: "This is a group that drinks in the city centre and makes people's lives a misery. They are unfortunately all alcoholics. They are often loud, they urinate and defecate in public places, they argue, they fight, they abuse members of the public.

"They are a nuisance to shopkeepers. They use up scarce police resources."

Begging orders were also handed to Duberry, aged 45, of no fixed address, Harper, 39, of no fixed address, Dyke, 25, of Thornley Street, Wolverhampton.

Cooper, 38, of Central Drive in Coseley, Freeman, 46, of William Bentley Court in Low Hill, Hayden, 41, of Leverton Rise in Oxley and Loffke, 37, of Grangefield Close, Pendeford, only received banning orders.

Shaw, 29, of Hart Road, and Allatt, 35, of Townsend Road, Ashmore Park, appeared at a previous hearing and were also prohibited from asking the public for money.