A 15-year-old has been handed a six-month civil injunction as part of work to reduce youth crime in Bridgwater.

The boy was issued an Anti-social Behaviour Injunction by Taunton Magistrates’ Court last month having been linked to more than 200 police reports since March 2021.

The injunction has a series of restrictions. They are:

1. He must not be in the company of eight named young people in a public place, other than in a supervised group activity such as at school.

2. He must not threaten to hurt other people.

3. He must not shout, spit or swear at other people.

4. He must not be in a group of four or more people, including himself, in Bridgwater in public, unless accompanied by an appropriate adult.

5. He must not enter Victoria Park in Bridgwater between 5pm and 11pm, unless accompanied by an appropriate adult.

6. He must not obscure his face unless it is done for a medical reason.

7. He must be at his home between 9pm and 7am, unless he is with an appropriate adult.

8. He must attend appointments arranged by the Youth Justice Team.

He can be arrested if any of these restrictions, barring numbers 4, 6 and 8 are breached.

Officers applied for the injunction in a bid to reduce the boy’s offending, which has included anti-social behaviour, assaults, burglary and public order offences.

Most of these take place around Bridgwater town centre.

The boy is associated with a group of youths who are well-known to neighbourhood police.

Lily Crowther-Luke, from the anti-social behaviour team, said: “This boy’s offending has put a significant demand on our resources through frequent responses to incidents which have required the increased use of our specialist policing teams.

“We have taken a number of steps to tackle this problem in conjunction with other agencies and have worked with the boy’s family to secure this injunction which will allow us to quickly respond to any breaches to protect him and the public.”