What was our brief?
South Liverpool Housing Group instructed us to act on a troublesome anti-social behaviour matter where a teenage gang were terrorising fellow residents and visitors in the way of assaults, criminal damage and racist abuse.
What did we do?
We sought ASBOs against 6 of the gang’s main protagonists by way of a group claim. Interim ASBOs were granted in the first instance.
Subsequently all 6 youths agreed to two-year asbos. The younger members of the gang were also given Individual Support Orders and their parents were ordered to attend parenting classes for 12 months.
After one of the youths breached his interim ASBO seven times, we also sought his committal and he was sentenced to four months in youth custody.
How did we add value?
The nature and complexity of such a group claim required a well-thought out strategy and high level of organisation. We prepared a matrix of allegations cross-referring to the gang members involved and relevant witnesses. We then prepared the claim according to the evidence and colour co-ordinated the volumous court papers for each Defendant.
Among the witnesses were residents of another RSL and so broader co-ordination was required.
Because our approach was so well organised it was easier to demonstrate to the court that we had sufficient evidence against each defendant.
Given the complexity of the matter itself and the volume of paperwork involved, we provided value for money by, where possible, working to agreed fixed fees at various stages of the claim.
Client testimonial
Julie Fadden, chief executive said: “This recent action is an excellent example of what can be achieved when social landlords, the police and most importantly the residents all work together.”