Man banned from whole of Gainsborough for five years
Henry Moody has been served with a civil anti-social behaviour injunction from the courts
A man has been banned from entering an entire town for five years to help protect the community, because his offending was so prolific.
Henry Moody, 19, of no fixed address, can no longer enter the boundary of Gainsborough after being served with a civil anti-social behaviour injunction from the courts.
The order was sought by officers from Lincolnshire Police working closely with West Lindsey District Council at court as a way to protect the public from Moody’s offending.
Moody, who has since relocated to another area, had committed a range of offences between 1 January 2023 to now, including serious assaults, theft, breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order, drugs offences, driving offences, and weapons possession. Officers also had to write several flee letters after people were left in fear of Moody. These are formal letters from police which someone can present to housing authorities to show that they need to move from their current residence to a completely different area.
Inspector Mike Head organised the injunction. He said: "This is a huge milestone for the people of Gainsborough who have been terrorised by Moody for years.
"We have done everything we could over the years including attempts with other agencies to intervene and reduce offending, convictions, engagement. A big challenge was the fear people felt which would often limit the ability for our officers to thoroughly investigate an incident.
"We needed to think about what powers we could make use of to try and limit the negative impact he was having, and this is where the civil injunction comes in. I'm very pleased to be able to tell the public we've secured this, and that if he does step foot in Gainsborough, we have the power to arrest him and he could be sent to prison for up to two years and fined."
The order was handed down on 15 July and is in place for five years, and has been brought through the Antisocial Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014, and prohibits him from:
Entering Gainsborough;
Entering into the company of specific individuals;
Behaving in a manner which causes or is likely to cause harassment or alarm or distress or annoyance to any person within Lincolnshire;
Encouraging others to behave in such a way;
Using or threatening the use of violence against any person within Lincolnshire;
Encouraging others to behave in the same way.