MAGISTRATES today agreed to impose an anti social behaviour order on a teenager dubbed by police "the Pied Piper of Darwen."

Proceedings against Lee Taylor, 15, began last month when the police, Twin Valley Homes and Blackburn with Darwen Council asked magistrates to impose the order.

Today, Taylor's solicitor Ian Huggins urged Blackburn Magistrates not to impose the order on the grounds that many of the offences the youngster was said to be involved in had not been proven.

He said: "The evidence given by Inspector Neil Hunter relies in the main on second and third hand information and the bench must decide if that is acceptable."

At a previous hearing, the court had been told how instances of crime on the Ellenshaw estate in Darwen rocketed when Taylor was in the area.

After spending half an hour deliberating, the magistrates agreed to implement the order, saying that they were sure that he had been a public nuisance.

They added that they understood many people in the area were not prepared to give evidence because they feared reprisals.

The conditions requested by the police include a curfew on Taylor between 8pm and 8am and prohibiting him from speaking to anybody aged under 16 in the Ellenshaw area of Darwen.

If magistrates agree to the recommendations, he will also be banned from entering the estate.

At the earlier hearing, the court was told Taylor had led many youngsters into trouble and was dubbed a 'pied piper".

Magistrates were told that when Taylor returned to Darwen some 49 incidents of car crime, motoring offences, theft and vandalism were reported.

A decision on what conditions will be imposed under the ASBO will be made later today.