Jail for man who breached Asbo

AN alcoholic has been jailed for eight weeks for smashing the window of his front room in a fit of rage after a “nightmare day” dealing with bureaucrats.
Luca Banchero, of Elizabeth Mews in Primrose Hill, was jailed on Friday for breaching the terms of an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) by “causing fear, alarm, harassment or distress” to his neighbours by smashing the window and shouting in his front room on April 7.
Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court heard that Banchero, a paranoid schizophrenic with a drink problem, had been given an Asbo in February.
His lawyer, Sarah Colby, said that on April 7 he had started drinking after a day of frustration with the authorities. His troubles began when his bank incorrectly debited money from his account, leaving him penniless.
When he travelled to Camden Council’s Kentish Town housing office to apply for a crisis loan to keep him going, officials told him he would have to go to the Highgate office for help. When he got there, officials told him they were busy and asked him to come back later.
They eventually issued him with a £29 cheque and told him to go to the Post Office in Camden Town to cash it. But Post Office staff said they could not help and told him to call a telephone number to find out who could cash the cheque.
Ms Colby said: “At that point he had been walking all over north London all day.
“As he left the post office he ran into a friend in Camden High Street who invited him for a drink. Unfortunately, he went to the friend’s house and drank brandy and then went home and drank cider.”
She added: “It was in frustration with his day that he began shouting and swearing and smashed the window. He did not direct his anger at anyone.”
At an earlier hearing, Banchero had admitted breaching his Asbo. As magistrates jailed him for eight weeks, he said: “Thank you very much.”
As he had already spent three weeks on remand, he is likely to be released tomorrow (Friday).