6:18am Saturday 24th June 2006
By Roland Batten
AMESBURY is turning into a lawless town where every Friday and Saturday night the streets are handed over to people who have had too much to drink, claimed Salisbury's resident Crown Court Judge, Keith Cutler, this week.
The judge said he was "appalled and disturbed" at the level of violence and antisocial behaviour going on in the streets of Amesbury after closing time in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings.
The judge made his comments when he sentenced a 19-year-old Amesbury man, who had been convicted of possessing an air rifle during an incident in the town earlier this year.
The judge said there were two pictures of Amesbury a quiet day-time town and a night-time town.
He said: "The town centre changes, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights when, it seems, the streets are turned over to people who have too much to drink.
"I have heard that the police dog handler knows exactly where he will be every Friday and Saturday night, he will be in Amesbury".
The judge said he was concerned at the "worrying picture of a lawless town" on certain nights and warned that "this picture" would have to be taken into consideration when various pub and club licences came up for renewal.
The judge told Nicholas Piper that he would be the subject of a curfew order on Friday and Saturday nights to keep him out of Amesbury and help him control his drinking.
Piper, of Avonstoke Close, Amesbury, had been found guilty by a jury of possessing an air rifle with intent to cause unlawful violence. The judge told him that CCTV pictures had shown him going to the boot of a car belonging to a friend and getting out the gun which belonged to the friend.
The judge said: "I am satisfied it was not a planned action. This sort of offence usually merits imprisonment. You are a man of previous good character with no previous convictions."
Piper had claimed he had got the gun for self-defence following an incident in the town.
He was sentenced to a two-year community order and made the subject of a curfew order until December 1 and ordered to pay £600 court costs.
© Copyright 2001-2010 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk