A boy, aged 10, who terrorised his neighbourhood while stealing from his family to buy cannabis and drink has become one of the youngest people in Britain to be given an anti-social behaviour order.

{mosimage}Despite his age, Lewis Green already has criminal convictions for burglary, possessing a knife and causing criminal damage. A court allowed him to be identified yesterday while issuing one of the most far-reaching Asbos to a juvenile. It includes a night-time curfew and ban on communicating with six people who live near him.
He is banned from possessing a “bong” – a water pipe – and other items associated with drugs, having alcohol or being drunk, throwing stones or eggs and possessing a knife or screwdriver in public,

Barnsley borough council produced a catalogue of his misdemeanours over seven months in its application for a full Asbo against him. They included threatening a child with a knife, theft, buying cannabis and being persistently abusive. He also damaged cars, threatened neighbours, smashed fences and assaulted his family and stole his mother’s mobile phone, his father’s Playstation and his grandfather’s car stereo to feed his habits. He regularly stole cigarettes and drank alcohol.

The head of the Army has defended the hospital treatment of soldiers who are injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. General Sir Richard Dannatt said the authorities were “working hard” to create excellent facilities at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, where many troops are treated.

A school teacher who was cleared by a court of assaulting a pupil claims to have been offered her job back, but is banned from chaperoning her own grandchildren.

As Prostate Cancer Awareness Week (19 – 25 March) highlights the most common cancer of men in the UK, the largest ever global trial in the area of prostate cancer is investigating the best treatments for the disease.

Cannabis cultivation is booming behind the closed doors of suburban Britain, a study published today has found. Police are raiding three indoor production sites a day and have closed down 1,500 cannabis farms in London alone since 2005, a threefold increase over the previous two years.

The family of a London woman who died six days after giving birth to a baby girl have received £600,000 in damages. Jessica Palmer died from an infection after giving birth in June 2004. A coroner concluded she could have been saved had she been treated earlier.

Thousands of working mothers who fall behind in the queue for promotion because they have taken maternity leave will be able to sue their employer for sex discrimination, a High Court ruled yesterday.

More support for people with mental health needs is now available from West Wiltshire District Council’s housing team. A part-time specialist housing co-ordinator, Alison King, has been appointed to work with individuals who have mental health problems and are either homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Thousands of doctors are expected to march in London and Glasgow on Saturday as the protest grows over an NHS selection system that has gone dramatically wrong.