UK’s worst teen thug is jailed at last

Britain’s worst teenage thug is finally behind bars after he had been allowed to breach his Asbo an astonishing 21 times.

The softly, softly approach typical of British courts had given out-of-control James Honeywell, 19, the licence to terrorise a city housing estate for SIX years adding to the misery of broken Britain.

The yob’s reign of lawlessness came to an end yesterday when he was jailed for two years at Gloucester Crown Court.

Honeywell, of Sherwood Green, Gloucester, had made life hell for locals of the nearby Leazes estate after committing more than 400 incidents of anti-social behaviour. His shameful exploits included drug offences, burglary, racist taunts, firing stones at houses, hammering on windows and doors at all hours, egg-throwing and overturning bins.

Honeywell’s mum, Angela Gardener, 47, has split from his dad, Paul Honeywell, and continues to live in the area where he wreaked havoc. When questioned about Honeywell’s record Angela jumped to his defence and said her boy did not deserve jail.

She said: “I am fuming about this sentence. He has problems and other people are involved. I don’t want to say any more.” The troubemaker’s dad, Paul, is a respectable businessman who runs a successful metal pressing company in Cinderford, Gloucs.

The clean-cut managing director claims he was unable to stop his wayward son running riot through the neighbourhood and reckons prison could be the answer.

Paul, 48, says: “We have tried with him. Lots of people have tried so hard, such as solicitors and probation, and he has let them all down. “It hurts to see what’s been going on. I think it is disgusting some of the things he has done. It has upset me and it has upset his mum but I don’t think James understands what he has done.

“For any normal person an Asbo would have affected their lifestyle. “But for him it is an ego thing. A lot of his friends see it as a badge of honour. “It’s hard to say I don’t want him around, yet it is in James’s best interests.

“But if James doesn’t want to be helped, it won’t work.”

Despite being handed a five-year Asbo in June 2005 at the age of 16, and being banned from entering Gloucester last year, the lout repeatedly flouted court rulings and continued his lawless rampage.

Last month the menace pleaded guilty to breaching his Asbo for the 21st time, as well as racially aggravated threatening words and behaviour, theft and possession of cannabis.

Stroud magistrates deferred sentencing to Gloucester Crown Court because the maximum sentence they could give Honeywell was 12 months and this was deemed insufficient to deal with his crimes.

But they then granted him conditional bail. Just five days later he was back at the Leazes estate with pals and helped steal an Audi A4 which they smashed into a Ford Focus.

That incident added further charges of burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, breach of an Asbo, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance to Honeywell’s record.

Amazingly, a spineless judgment meant the uncontrollable yob had already escaped jail in July last year, subsequent to one of his most serious offences.

Then Honeywell broke the terms of his Asbo to steal a Ford Orion from the Leazes estate with friends and risked a high-speed joyride from Gloucester to Cheltenham. Shocked cops watched as the car reached 80mph, jumped a red traffic light and even travelled the wrong way down a dual carriageway.

The episode ended only when officers burst the car’s tyres with a stinger device, and Honeywell and two others were caught. In court last year, he again pleaded guilty to breaching his Asbo and aggravated vehicle taking.

Yet his family begged officials not to impose a prison sentence, claiming he had learning difficulties and was improving due to taking up golf and playing pool.

Judge Mark Horton did not mince his words as he addressed Honeywell about his sentence yesterday. He said: “This is your day of reckoning. “You are a young man with an appalling record, which reflects not only your lack of self control but a lack of desire for self control.

“You have become, at 19, one of those young men who have made yourself a person from whom the public must be protected. You are out of control.”

After Honeywell was jailed for two years yesterday, terrified locals were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief that Britain’s worst-behaved teen would no longer be making their lives a misery.