A SOLICITOR says that Tony Blair's crackdown on anti-social behaviour is doomed to fail.

Martin Guyll-Wiggins was speaking after a Swindon teenager, who had the conditions on his Asbo lifted for good behaviour, was shortly afterwards caught and convicted for a vicious attack in which a man was beaten with a golf club and a bicycle chain.

Together with two friends, who were also jailed, the teenager admitted taking part in the attack on playing fields in Swindon which left their victim with a cut to his head, a suspected broken nose and severe bruising to his body.

The teenagers cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Mr Guyll-Wiggins, pictured, said: "I just think Asbos are totally ineffectual and this recent failure is a good example.

"It's a real shame. They don't work at all. They fail because they exclude people.

"The fact is I have never, ever seen an Asbo succeed.

"There has not been one in Swindon that has gone full-term without it being breached.

"When the Government introduced Asbos they said they wouldn't target anyone in particular.

"But they are more often made against poorer people and poorly educated people.

"By imposing conditions on someone in such a community and excluding them you just displace their behaviour to another area and cause them to feel resentment and anger, which is never positive. It's just a big con."

Swindon Magistrates' Court heard that the three, who all pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm, had calmly walked away from the fracas.

Sentencing the teenagers to a 12-month detention and training order, magistrates described the incident in October last year as a mindless, sustained and violent attack'.

Louisa Thomas, prosecuting, told the court that the three youths all had weapons two of them wielding golf clubs and the third either a bicycle lock or chain.

She said that there had been a short argument, which may have been over the victim's missing motorbike.

Then one of the youths head-butted the victim on the nose and then struck him to the side of the face with the bicycle lock.

"He tried to run away but was struck repeatedly on the legs with the golf clubs," said Mrs Thomas. One of the youths then told their victim that that is what he would get for coming into their part of town.

She said the attack was so severe that one of the golf clubs was broken over his head. This last claim was denied by defence lawyers.

Mrs Thomas said the three were arrested shortly after the attack and four golf clubs were found at the home of one of the defendants.

Lee Mott, defending one of the clients, said: "He accepts he used the golf club and kicked the victim when he was on the ground."

He said the injuries were not as serious as had been suggested in the prosecution case.

Rob Ross, defending the other two youths, said the defendant had been with a large group of people.

He said: "My clients feared what the other side might do so they armed themselves."

Sentencing the three youths David Packham, the chairman of the bench, said the victim sustained serious injuries.

"He tried to escape but he was brought to the floor and violently attacked. Afterwards the victim was afraid to go out at night."

He said the attack was so serious only custody would be appropriate.

They do cut crime council

SWINDON council's Asbo co-ordinator Cheri Wright believes such orders have been particularly effective and have made a real difference to people's lives.

She believes that in Swindon, where there is a multi-agency approach, an ASBO is only used after other measures have failed.

Swindon is one of 50 areas that have been named Together Action Areas by the Government and one of only five in the south west. Other towns that have become action areas are Oxford, Reading, and Gloucester.

A Together Action Area is one that has been praised for its work in tackling anti-social behaviour using best practice and innovation, setting standards for the rest of the country.

In the past few years, Swindon police, in partnership with the council, has introduced a number of other measures to halt the tide of yobbish behaviour.

These include dispersal orders in Swindon, where police can split up large gangs of youths from gathering in certain areas, and acceptable behaviour contracts where offenders sign a good behaviour contract with the police and the council.

Ms Wright has previously said: "We are definitely using them appropriately in Swindon.

"We use them only where other measures fail and it is always with a multi-agency approach, so we make sure people's human rights are protected.

"We always use other preventative measures first and we have found they have made a real difference to the quality of life of the community in areas like Freshbrook."