COURTS have doubled the number of Asbos slapped on Oxford people in the past year – just as the Government looks to scrap them.

Thames Valley Police and Oxford City Council’s crime and nuisance action team successfully applied for 10 Asbos compared to just four in the previous 12 months.

Nine adults and one youth were handed orders between April this year and last.

The city rise came despite a Government announcement yesterday that it wants to replace the controversial orders with new measures to tackle antisocial behaviour.

Home Secretary Theresa May wants to replace Asbos with six new orders and injunctions. These include a “community trigger”, which forces the police, councils and other agencies to act if five households or more complain about troublemakers.

Despite the proposed changes, Oxford’s Asbo officer Pc Mike Ellis said they are still helping criminals to change their ways.

He said: “Some of those handed Asbos are still serving prison sentences and of the others only two have breached the terms of their orders.

“I’m very pleased with that. It’s a sign that the recipients take them seriously and don’t think of them as a badge of honour. Otherwise they would be breaching them all the time.”

The police say one Asbo success story is chef Bobby Thomas, of Meadow View Road, Kennington.

Thomas, 20, was given a three-year order banning him from every pub in the county on February 27.

He admitted actual bodily harm, using threatening words or behaviour and common assault at Oxford Magistrates’ Court, but since then he has held down a full-time job and kept out of trouble.

Pc Ellis said: “Since Bobby received his Asbo it’s quite clear he’s making very strong progress in turning his life around. He’s in full-time work and he’s looking like a changed man.”

Secretary of the Thames Valley Police Federation Andy Viney branded Mrs May’s proposals as “yet another headline grabbing policy ann-ouncement”.

He said: “The devil will be in the detail. A lot of it depends on the sanctions for breaking them and how easy it is going to be to record them which is not yet clear.”

Asbos were introduced in 1998.

Richard Adams, city council community safety manager, said: “Oxford City Council’s crime and nuisance action team have been working in partnership with Thames Valley Police for the last 11 years.

“The council, police and other partners are determined to ensure Oxford remains a safe and vibrant place to live, work and visit by tackling all forms of anti-social behaviour.”

But Vicki Helyar-Cardwell, director of the Criminal Justice Alliance, said: “Asbos have not been particularly effective in tackling the long-term causes of antisocial behaviour. The proposals risk making the same mistakes.”