Teenager says public peeing Asbo won’t affect him

A TEENAGE tearaway has been banned from urinating in public after being hit with an Asbo.

David Reynolds was given the antisocial behaviour order, which also prohibits him from drinking outdoors on threat of arrest, after being accused of terrorising his local community.

But the 18-year-old today hit out at the urinating ban, calling it “absolute p***”, and claimed that he had only been caught once by police while relieving himself outdoors.

Reynolds, who lives in Colgate Avenue in Tranent, East Lothian, told the Evening News he “wasn’t fussed” about the court order, which runs for the next three years across the whole of East Lothian.

He added that many of the offences documented by police and council workers dated back to when he was 15 years old.

But nearby residents welcomed the ban and described Reynolds as a “wee monster” who “had it coming to him”.

Council chiefs applied for the Asbo and told a court that Reynolds has a “history of behaving in an antisocial manner” dating back to March 2009, which included threatening, assaulting and verbally abusing other people, throwing objects, consuming alcohol and urinating in public places in Tranent and elsewhere in East Lothian.

The Asbo bans him from any of this behaviour, as well as entering the grounds of Ross High School in Tranent.

Reynolds said: “The Asbo is a joke. Half of the stuff they talked about dated back to 2009 when I was only 15. I’m 18 now. And most of it happened when I was part of a group but I’m the only one who’s been picked out.

“I only got done once for urinating in public when the police caught me in an alleyway and I got a £40 fine. It’s absolute p***. I’m not fussed anyway because it’s not as if I like doing it in the street.

“I don’t think the Asbo will have any effect on me. But it did stop me and my mum from swapping council houses. It didn’t go through because there was an Asbo on this house.

“It was all just drinking and that when I was younger. I’m 18 now so I go to the pub if I like anyway. I don’t need to drink in the street.”

East Lothian Council’s antisocial behaviour team worked with police to compile the dossier of evidence which was used to prepare the case against Reynolds.

One of his neighbours, who asked not to be named, said: “He hangs around with a gang, the so-called Tranent Young Team. He’s been a bad one for years so he had it coming to him.

“But I’m not sure an Asbo will make any difference.”

Another resident said: “He’s been a wee monster for years, threatening people who are younger than him.

“I’m not surprised he’s got this order but he probably should’ve got it a few years ago. It might have helped him more then.”

Councillor Stuart Currie, the council’s community safety leader, said: “This behaviour was particularly worrying because of Mr Reynolds’ age. I hope the granting of this Asbo will drive home to him that he needs to change his ways dramatically and permanently as we will not tolerate antisocial behaviour in East Lothian.”