AN ABUSIVE alcoholic has been banned from the city centre after being involved in more than 25 drunken incidents in just six months.
Graham Higgins was slapped with a Criminal Anti Social Behaviour Order (CRASBO) by Worcester Magistrates on Tuesday (May 6) which stops the 44-year-old entering areas including Angel Street, part of the High Street, The Shambles, Shrub Hill Retail Park and St Martin’s Quarter.
But he is allowed to attend the probation office on Shaw Street or the walk-in medial centre in Farrier Street with a pre-arranged appointment.
The order, which lasts for two years, also prevents him from consuming alcohol or possessing an open container of alcohol in any place which is a designated alcohol free zone.
At an earlier hearing in January, the court gave Higgins a six-month conditional discharge for a public order offence, relating to an incident in which he was found asleep in a pedestrianised area and swore when told by police to move on.
When the application for the CRASBO was heard, the court was told Higgins had been involved in 25 incidents over a six month period between August 2013 and January 2014 when he came to the attention of the police for being drunk and for causing alarm, harassment and distress to the public.
They included incidents of begging for money, spitting, committing assaults, swearing, and sleeping in doorways. On one occasion he tried to sleep on a bench in the front counter of Worcester police station and had to be ejected from the building.
PC Paul Wanklyn, of the city centre Safer Neighbourhoods Team, said: “Since January, Higgins has only come to the attention of the police three times.
“Higgins is currently living in Solihull and although it is acknowledged he has improved significantly in the last couple of months, we feel that a CRASBO is still necessary to protect people, should he return to or visit Worcester.”
If he breaches the CRASBO, Higgins can be jailed for up to five years.
