GIRL WHO BEGGED FOR ASBO IS JAILED ..FOR BREAKING IT; Drug addict, 21, in trouble again.

Byline: ROD CHAYTOR

THE first person to ask for her own Asbo has been jailed for breaching it.

Tania Hall, 21, pleaded for the order to help her quit a shoplifting habit which had funded a heroin and crack addiction.

It was meant to stop her from going to streets where she stole alcohol and clothes.

Yet the order failed to turn her life around and Hall seemed relieved when she was put behind bars last week for breaking it.

She told the magistrate who sentenced her to 14 days' jail: "Thank you, thank you. Thanks."

Hall had originally asked police in April 2008 to give her an Asbo after being caught shoplifting 12 times in seven years. She also had seven convictions for fraud before the age of 20 and convictions for using stolen credit cards.

Hall later said of the Asbo: "I was killing myself and had I not applied for this then I would probably be dead quite soon.

"I was walking around in a complete state, with no regard for my health, my appearance or my self-respect. The reason I wanted to get myself an Asbo was to keep me away from a bad crowd. I'm starting a new job looking after disabled children and excited about my future - the Asbo is just the start."

But magistrates in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids, heard last week she had failed to avoid trouble. She was back before the court on July 16 for breaching a community order.

And in September she was held for breaking the Asbo and assaulting a police officer. Magistrates' chairman Peter Grace said on Thursday of the order breach: "We can only give a custodial sentence. I sentence you to 14 days."

But the court was told Hall would stay locked up until Friday anyway - when she will be sentenced for assaulting the policeman.

Joanne Outhwaite, defending, said: "The facts in this case are very straightforward. Miss Hall was in a place at a time she was not allowed to be there.

"She is currently in custody on separate matters and is due for sentencing in the crown court later this month.

"It will most likely be early next year when she is released from custody."

Hall's Asbo barred her from streets in the Erdington district of Birmingham, where she regularly stole goods to order.

CAPTION(S):

PROBLEMS Tania Hall had hoped to turn her life around