The mum of notorious teen-ager Ashleene Gallagher fears for her daughter's safety after she was branded a "Muslim extremist" by the media.

Ashleene Gallagher hit the headlines in 2003 when she appeared in a TV documentary, 'The Last White Kids' about a family living in a predominantly-Asian area of Bradford.

The white teenager, who was then 13, had started to attend her local Wahabi Mosque and won the approval of the Iman with her ability to memorise passages from the Koran.

Ashleene is now 15 and currently serving a 12-month sentence at Hassockfield Secure Training Centre, Durham, for assault and robbery. She was back in the public eye after she was accused of shouting abuse during a ceremony in Centenary Square, Bradford, to remember victims of the London bombings last year.

Last week she was handed a three-year ASBO for a dossier of 27 complaints.

But her mother Sharon Gallagher, of Manningham, Bradford, fears for her daughter's future and safety when she is released after she was branded a "Muslim extremist" in a national newspaper.

Mrs Gallagher, 36, said: "My daughter is not an extremist. Why is religion being brought into it? Religion is religion. Her actions were nothing to do with religion - let's put religion in a sacred box where it belongs.

"When Ashleene is released she will have done nine months in detention and will have six months' intense probation and an ASBO with strict conditions for three years. But now she has to come out to this.

"I do not want people to use my daughter's name in the same sentence as 'extremist.'

"I do not think these things would have been said about her if she had been Christian.

"Ashleene is not an angel and I am not blaming anyone else because I believe you should take responsibility for what you do. But this will scar her."

Mrs Gallagher, who has three other children, fears the label 'Muslim extremist' will damage Ashleene's chances of turning her life round when she is released from custody later this year. "Some of the media made out Ashleene had been forced to go to mosque. That was never the case," she said.

Mrs Gallagher said Ashleene was "acting giddy and said something out loud which she regrets" at the ceremony to remember the London bombing victims in Centenary Square.

She said: "At the time her head was somewhere else. She was pulled up by a warden but nothing came of it. The ASBO was nothing to do with what happened in Centenary Square."

Ashleene, her sister and young brother were described as "amazing, very bright, engaging and funny" by the director of 'The Last White Kids' when it was screened in 2003. Problems started after she was sent to a pupil referral unit following her exclusion from Belle Vue Girls' School.

"My daughter had been a good girl and then she ran away," said Mrs Gallagher.

But she says Ashleene is trying hard to turn her life around and has earned certificates for a host of subjects including German, science and history during her custodial sentence.

Ashleene still practises Islam and has a prayer mat in her room in the detention centre.

"I am proud because of how she has been handling it inside," said Mrs Gallagher. "We did a good thing with 'The Last White Kids.' It showed how you don't have to be Asian to be a Muslim. Now that's been spun against Ashleene."

Ashleene's solicitor Paul Brunskill said: "There is no suggestion that any of her offences had anything to do with Muslim extremism."