Paper wins the right to name six young ‘thugs’

The group, part of the "Slade Green Massive" gang, "forced ordinary, decent families to cower in darkened houses, afraid for their safety, for two years", said the News Shopper in its four-page coverage of the story.
Linda Piper, chief reporter on the Bexley edition of the weekly Kent title, followed the case of Jamie Golding, 17, Darren Cooper, 17, Darren Gallagher, 18, Wayne Goodwin, 19, and brothers Nick and Sam Carlton, 18 and 17, for 10 months.
It was Piper who argued in court that it was in the interests of the community to know exactly who had been made the subject of an anti-social behaviour order and what the order banned them from doing.
She said she was "absolutely delighted" when district judge Jane McIvor agreed the youths should be named, despite attempts by one of them to hide his identity behind the legal protection given to juveniles in court.
Piper said: "Lifting the reporting restrictions meant we could really do the story justice and fulfil our role in serving the people of Slade Green and the wider community." The orders, which were made at the request of Bexley Council, will last for four years on the Carlton brothers and for three years on the others. They ban all six from taking part in assault, abuse, threats, harassment, trespass, interfering with property, driving or being carried in a vehicle without the consent of the owner or consorting with anyone committing, attempting to commit or conspiring to commit a crime. They are also banned from congregating in the Slade Green area in groups larger than three with a number of named individuals.
Only Jamie Golding attempted to stop the publication of his name. His solicitor, Richard Hawgood, pleaded "exceptional circumstances", telling the district judge that a previous News Shopper story in April, which carried a photograph of the Goldings’ Craydene Road home, had resulted in his family becoming the target of vigilantes.
The News Shopper pointed out that the story had been about the serving of an eviction notice on his mother in connection with anti-social behaviour in the Slade Green area, while her son Paul was campaigning against anti-social behaviour in the Slade Green area for the British National Party in the local elections.

Jean Morgan