Brum steps up war on gangs.

Byline: By Mark Cowan CRIME CORRESPONDENT

THE country's most senior civil judge has been appointed to hear a legal appeal by gun gang-busters in Birmingham.

West Midlands Police and city council chiefs hoped to pioneer civil injunctions to ban so-called adult "nominals" from certain streets or from hanging around together, but hit a snag in January when a High Court judge dismissed the first application for the first full injunction.

The council appealed against the decision, and hopes to overturn the ruling at the Court of Appeal before the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Peter Clarke.

The idea to use civil orders emerged from a team of police and council experts set up under the name Operation Malva following a spate of shootings on the streets of Handsworth, Birmingham, last April.

The move is a break from the traditional use of injunctions under section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972, which normally targeted the likes of dodgy traders.

There were 31 individuals where injunction proceedings had started.

Despite the setback council chiefs have pledged that they would continue to tackle the problem using anti-social behaviour orders instead.

Alison Parsons, head of antisocial behaviour services, said last month: "We haven't given up, it has just strengthened our resolve. If we can't use one piece of legislation, we will use something else."

The hearing in London before the Master of the Rolls, who heads the Civil Division and deals with the most difficult and sensitive cases, is scheduled for June 24-25.