The Norwich Evening News has persuaded a youth court to let it name and shame a boy accused of terrorising his neighbourhood.
Luke Kett, 14, was given a 12-month detention order after being found guilty of racially abusing a neighbourhood warden and threatening him with a brick.
He had also persistently flouted an Anti-Social Behaviour Order banning him from entering a particular neighbourhood.
Criminals under 18 are usually granted automatic anonymity. But Evening News journalists believed they could persuade magistrates to lift the name ban. Court reporter Grizelda Graham was briefed by the newsdesk to challenge the order when she attended a sentencing hearing for the boy.
News editor Alasdair MacGregor said: “We knew that he was coming up, we had been following the story for a long time. Once he was convicted, we argued that he was a persistent offender who had flouted the law and didn’t deserve anonymity. People had a right to know who he was and to know that people who break ASBOs will get severe punishment.”
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