POLICE have defended the "naming and shaming" an 11-year-old boy banned from the streets of South Shore by an ASBO after his mother complained of unfair treatment.

Flame-haired schoolboy -- Jak Spinks -- became one of the youngest people in Britain to be given an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) after appearing before the resort's magistrates on Thursday, April 24.

The hearing heard how Spinks -- who is said to be undergoing tests for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) -- wreaked havoc in the community around his former home on Horncliffe Road in the resort.

A catalogue of incidents presented to the court included causing a nuisance at Highfield High School, a local library, robbing a youth for a cigarette and beating another about the head with a roadworks barrier.

Under the terms of the order -- which follows an interim order imposed earlier this year -- he is now banned from entering an area of South Shore without a parent or responsible adult. He is also prohibited from causing, inciting or encouraging anyone to engage in anti-social behaviour or associating with a named 15-year-old-boy.

Should Spinks breach any of these terms, he could face prosecution. But the tiny tearaway's single mother, Amanda -- who lives with her son on Dinmore Avenue at Grange Park -- has been reported as condemning magistrates and the media for not giving her family a chance to "defend ourselves".

Speaking to a radio station, Amanda, 33, said: "We did not get told about the naming of him until late on Thursday afternoon so we have had no opportunity to defend ourselves.

"We have just moved to a different area of Blackpool to make a fresh start for Jak and naming and shaming him in this way will not help him do that. He has now been give a label that will stick with him for long time to come."

But the officer who helped impose the two-year order -- community beat manager, PC Chris Farrow -- says that the identification is justified to protect the general public and says the youngster has been kept informed throughout the legal process.

He said: "Spinks is exceptionally young to have an ASBO placed upon him, but we have to ask which is the lesser evil.

"Do we allow him to grow up thinking his current behaviour is acceptable or do we jump on him while he is young enough to change his ways.

"The ASBO is the result of many telling-offs and arrests -- albeit without charge -- all of which have not made a difference.

We hope that coming from a court it will have a bit more clout.

"It's a difficult situation, but we have a responsibility to this boy's victims and the community at large.

"It would be unacceptable to allow this kind of behaviour to continue.

"Obviously it's not nice for his mother to know that her son has this imposed upon him and it's only natural for her to be unhappy that her son has been written about in newspapers.

"But they have had ample opportunity to contest the conditions of the order, which have been explained in full during the entire process and have agreed these conditions in court."