The mother of the youngest boy to get an Asbo in Bradford says the controversial punishment has saved her son from turning into a career criminal and spending life behind bars.

Debbie Williamson said she had feared her tearaway son, Aneeze, would continue to spiral out of control.

But the anti-social behaviour order issued two years ago when he was 11 has helped halt his law-breaking habits which included burglaries, arson and shouting abuse at neighbours and shopkeepers.

The 38-year-old from West Royd Close, Windhill, spoke out after claims that many youths regarded Asbos as "badges of honour".

Calls have been made by the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and a children's charity for the Government to think again about the way it tackles youth crime after a survey by the Youth Justice Board.

The survey revealed nearly half of under-18s in the UK breached their Asbos and that the orders had the potential to become "glamorous".

But Miss Williamson, who also has a nine-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter, said Aneeze's Asbo had only bought him shame and frustration at being shackled.

Under the order he cannot go out without a responsible adult - not even to his grandmother's house just a street away from his own.

Now she is hoping magistrates, due to review his Asbo next month, will take his good behaviour into account and consider ending it.

"He's never thought of his Asbo as a badge of honour," she said. "He's hated it. It's just frustrated him. He hasn't liked not being able to go out when and where he likes - to go swimming with his friends or just into the park. It's been hard on him, me and the other children but it's worked.

"He has improved. He's still no angel at home with me and he can be a hard case but he's not bad any more, not like before.

"We're not down the police station every day or in court every week like it used to be.

"He wants rid of the Asbo so he can get his freedom back and I want it finished so I can get on with my own life too. I'd love to be able to go out and get a job."

And Aneeze said: "I don't like having an Asbo. It's made me paranoid. Every time I see a police car or hear it's siren I want to run, even though I haven't done anything wrong.

"Even when I don't have an Asbo I'll still be paranoid. I don't want to get in trouble again."

Miss Williamson said it helped Aneeze that an older crowd of youths he used to hang round with were either in prison or had moved away from the estate. And she praised police for their "constant" hands-on support.

"We've got a police community support officer who comes more or less every day to see us and he's been a godsend, a real help. I don't know if I could have coped alone. It's been hard but the Asbo's done it's job."

Aneeze, who suffers from attention deficit disorder and was excluded from primary school at the age of seven, now travels by taxi five days a week to a YMCA-run education project in Halifax. There, he is rewarded for good work by being allowed on a mechanics course.

"There are days when he doesn't want to get up and go to school, like any other teenagers, but he's doing all right at the moment," said Miss Williamson.

"If he behaves, he gets to work with engines.

"I'm hoping he'll stick at it and it will give him a future to work towards, rather than spending his adult life in jail."

They do work, says chief

Asbos issued in Bradford are working, say officials.

But the number served on young people defies misconceptions that they are responsible for most anti-social problems, said Chris Slaven, manager of Bradford Council's Asbo team.

Mr Slaven said since Asbos began in June, 2003, only 31 of the Council's total of 122 orders had been served on youngsters.

And he could not think of one youth in the district who had treated his or her Asbo as a "badge of honour" to flaunt. He said: "In areas where Asbos are given out like confetti I can imagine young people might think they are meaningless, but here in Bradford we have a great relationship with the police which means if our young people step out of line they are brought before the court."

Mr Slaven said only ten per cent of his team's cases - youth or adult - led to an Asbo being issued.

e-mail: kathie.griffiths@bradford.newsquest.co.uk