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| Court clears man of three Asbo
breaches |
Orders are targeting ‘the troublesome
but vulnerable’
THE evidence of three police officers failed to clinch the case
against a man accused of breaching his Anti-Social Behaviour Order
(Asbo) on three occasions.
Although officers testified to seeing Marcus Angol enter an exclusion
zone set out by the order on three separate days, district judge
Vanessa Lloyd dismissed the accusations on Friday.
Angol, 28, of Lawford Road, Kentish Town, is a former drug-addict
who was given an Asbo after being found in drugs dens in Kentish
Town. He blew kisses at his mother during the hearing at Highbury
Corner Magistrates’ Court when he was told the charges were
dismissed. The court heard how officers spotted Angol in Malden
Road, Kentish Town, at the start of August this year, and in Prince
of Wales Road and Kentish Town Road in September.
Angol denied he was the person seen in Malden Road. He accepted
the September sightings but claimed neither constituted a breach
of his Asbo.
Police community support officer Osbet Rwamusy said he saw Angol
in Malden Road but did not approach him in case he was dangerous.
PC Mark Harris, of Kentish Town police station, said that when he
saw Angol in Prince of Wales Road on September 14 he said he was
going to hospital.
PC Harris added: “He told us he had just swallowed 20 wraps
of crack.” An ambulance was called but, when it did not arrive,
Angol walked off.
Asked why Angol had not been arrested, PC Harris said he and his
colleague wanted to be sure Angol was in breach of his order. He
added: “I’m not going to waste public money by having
two officers sitting around in hospital waiting for him. We decided
to first make sure.”
Robert Kaim, defending, said Angol, who lives with his mother and
12-year-old daughter in a one-bed flat, had good reason to enter
the zone in an emergency and that he was suffering from severe asthma.
The third charge related to Angol entering a post office in Kentish
Town Road, just across the road from where his exclusion zone was
said to end. But Angol’s solicitor said the boundary, as shown
on a map by a thick red marker, was unclear.
Dismissing the charges, district judge Lloyd said of the Asbo boundary
line: “If the police can’t find it clear then you can’t
be expected to find it clear.”
Angol remains in custody pending a separate hearing.
Following the verdict, Mr Kaim criticised the misuse of Asbos. He
said: “Mr Angol knows he’s not an angel and has previous
offences but it doesn’t mean to say an Asbo’s the way
to go.
“Why don’t they show some interest in what the legislation
was originally for – anti-social drinkers in the streets on
Friday nights. In this area, Asbos target beggars, prostitutes,
drug addicts and the mentally ill – all of whom are troublesome
but also very vulnerable.
“Why should they be moved from a geographical area, which solves
the problem for Camden, but which means, if they don’t die,
they will just be in another area.” |
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