A JUDGE has overturned his own order banning the identification of a teenager who had asked a court to alter the conditions of his Anti-Social Behaviour Order after he decided the public had a right to know.

Judge Andrew Blake, sitting with two magistrates, had originally imposed the section 39 order at a hearing on Thursday at Preston Crown Court, after being told that the family of teenager Lee Taylor, 16, had been subjected to abuse when his case was reported.

But yesterday he removed it after hearing an application by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

Taylor was made the subject of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order in February this year after magistrates were told he had a 'pied piper' effect on youngsters on Darwen's Ellenshaw estate, often making friends with them then leading them into petty crime and anti-social behaviour.

The original ASBO banned him from Ellenshaw estate, banned him from talking to anyone under the age of 16 who lived on the Ellenshaw and banned him from being drunk or under the influence of controlled drugs in a public place.

If he broke any part of the order he could face five years in jail.

The order was to run for two years.

Thursday's hearing altered the conditions of the order, and now he is banned only from talking to six named individuals aged under 16 rather than any youngster from Ellenshaw.

The police can apply to the courts to amend the list at any time should circumstances change.

Judge Blake imposed Thursday's Section 39 order, which bans the identification of youngsters involved in court proceedings, after Clare Thomas, for Taylor, said his family had been subjected to abuse following previous hearings. The judge also said that he felt the alterations to the conditions were 'only minor.'

But yesterday afternoon, Judge Blake heard from Nick Nunn, assistant editor of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, who told the court that the order had effectively made it impossible for the paper to report on developments with Taylor's ASBO.

In lifting reporting restrictions, Judge Blake said: "We are satisfied that these orders, which are relatively recent, are meant to be publicised.

"That is the whole point about them."

He said such ASBOs were necessary 'to allow people to keep an eye on the miscreant.'

He said that 'there should be no misunderstandings or just plain wrong information going around the estate concerned and the population of Darwen' because of reporting restrictions.

"We have had to balance the disadvantages to the family against the public's right to know and the philosophy behind these orders which is that they should know."

Mr Nunn's submission stated that Taylor's details were already in the public domain, and that the police and Twin Valley Homes, which helped bring the original ASBO, had supported the paper's stance.

On Thursday, the judge had told Taylor that it wasn't just the teenager who suffered from his actions, but the teenager's family as well.

Detective Inspector Neil Hunter said today: "It is important to us to maintain the peace and tranquillity of that estate and it makes it a lot easier for us to do when the Press can name those with ASBOs imposed."