THE mother of a baby-faced tearaway named and shamed in a North-East community has defended him.

Elaine Webb said her 12-year-old son, John Ashley Kinsella, had been led astray by other youngsters.

A poster alerting the public to a three-year anti-social behaviour order imposed on Kinsella has been distributed in Woodhouse Close, Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

Wear Valley District Council's anti-social behaviour panel was granted the order by magistrates on Monday and immediately printed hundreds of posters and leaflets.

They compiled a list of 43 examples of his bad behaviour over the past two years, many of them when he was drunk and in the company of a 17-year-old.

One of his favourite antics was throwing stones. He threw them at cars, buses and people, even a disabled pensioner. He swore at a woman in her 80s and punched a nine-year-old boy in the face.

One of the conditions imposed on Kinsella is that he does not associate with the older boy.

Last night, Kinsella's mother said: "The things that he gets the blame for, I don't think he does."

She added: "He has done petty things like shoplifting and things like that.

"But when he first started doing things, he was at an age where they couldn't do nothing with him because he was too young.

"They just couldn't wait for him to reach the age where they could basically arrest him."

Some people who stopped to read the poster yesterday did not need to see the photograph to know who Kinsella was.

One resident, who did not want to be identified, said: "There are a dozen other kids like him round here. Things have got a bit better recently, but they are still making people's lives a misery."

Others felt that the poster campaign was too harsh on the youngster, who lives in the nearby Tindale Crescent area.

A mother pushing a baby in a buggy said: "I know he is a bad lad but there is no need for that. It is disgraceful."

Experts said they were concerned for the boy's long-term future.

Mick Davies, manager of the privately-owned detox and rehabilitation centre, the Tunstall Unit, in Sunderland, said: "It is important to understand why he is drinking. It is a problem that he can get over if he gets the right help."

Children's charity the NSPCC said: "We recognise that anti-social behaviour is very distressing for those it affects.

"In the case of children, our concern would be that the root cause of their behaviour is addressed and they are not forever labelled or condemned as a lost cause."