GWENT magistrates are today accused of wrongly protecting youths on anti-social behaviour orders.

The Argus has repeatedly applied unsuccessfully to the courts to be allowed to identify youngsters who ignore their ASBOs.

Yet magistrates in Gwent often ignore best practice from around Britain and prevent the public from knowing the identity of serial offenders, many of whom make life miserable for residents.

Police and victims alike are outraged by a decision this week from the court to keep secret the name of a 16-year-old thug who terrorised a Newport family.

The court locked up the youth for 12 months but banned the Argus from reporting his name - despite the fact it was previously in the public domain.

Mike Dodd, deputy editor of Media Lawyer, said: "I know the government is very keen to have juveniles subject to ASBOs identified because otherwise the order becomes a nonsense.

"If you don't allow the local Press to identify youths, then the public are not going to know he is subject to an ASBO.

"The public has a right to know that this young man has been dealt with properly and locked up. The idea that you can lock somebody up for 12 months because he is in breach of an ASBO and not name him is an absolute nonsense and makes a mockery of the principles of open justice."

Tracey Betts, a 36-year-old mother of four, had to move from Malpas to Risca because of the 16-year-old's anti-social behaviour.

She said: "They should be named and shamed, as if they move to another area of Newport, people will know who to watch out for." In another case a court allowed us to print the names of ASBO offenders but banned publication of their photographs.

This is despite ASBOs relying on information from the public for enforcement.

Eddie Harding, the clerk to the justices for Gwent, explained there were discrepancies between cases as magistrates had to take each one on its merits. But he said he would be raising the issues of reporting ASBOs at his quarterly meeting with magistrates at the end of March.

Mr Harding said: "There is no set policy, so it is difficult to say there will be anything other than inconsistency.

"In each individual case the magistrates must weigh up the balance between the welfare of the child and the interest of public knowledge." Mr Harding added that part of the new Anti-Social Behav-iour Act 2003 sought to clarify points on ASBOs, and said "awareness of an (ASBO) order and its conditions enables communities to assist the statutory agencies in monitoring the orders".

The Act states courts will still have the discretion to impose restrictions. Mr Harding would not comment when asked if he thought Gwent magistrates were less likely to allow for the naming and shaming of ASBO offenders than other areas of the UK.

There are currently nine ASBOs in Newport, for which there have been a total of 30 arrests for breaches.

Of those, 12 have led to convictions, nine are pending and nine have been dismissed.

At a High Court ruling in 2002 the judge, Mr Justice Elias, said when a court was considering reporting restrictions, weight should be given to an application to remove a naming ban if that juvenile was the subject of an ASBO.

Judge Michael Mander, at Shrewsbury crown court, has said there was no point in making an ASBO and keeping the identity of an offender secret. He said: "It seems to me self-evident that if a court makes an order in these terms it should be rare indeed for the media to be debarred in any way, shape or form from reporting that."

The Argus telephoned several Gwent magistrates about the issue, but all declined to comment.

One of those magistrates, Shirley Jones, said the clerk to the justices was the sole spokesman for magistrates on the issue.

In other areas of the country newspapers have successfully challenged applications to withhold the naming of ASBO defendants.

Magistrates in south Durham agreed to lift restrictions on reporting a 17-year-old persistent offender after journalist Julie Breen challenged the ban on behalf of the Northern Echo.

The Judicial Studies Board, set up in 1979 to train judges and magistrates, says effective enforcement of ASBOs "may require the publication of photographs of the subjects, as well as their names and addresses".

Newport's ASBO co-ordinator for Gwent Police, PC Carolyne Jefferies, said officers relied on the public to report breaches of an order, and that a ban on identification hindered that.

Argus editor Gerry Keighley said: "In Gwent the names of some youths subject to ASBOs are being kept secret for no apparent reason.

"There is a huge degree of inconsistency in the way ASBOs are applied. They are there to protect the public from thugs, but in some cases the public are kept in the dark."