A HABITUAL drunk from Weston has been slapped with an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) – despite already being banned from buying booze in the town centre.

Adrian Gillard, of Milton Road, is well-known to officers as his nuisance behaviour has been reported to police more than 30 times over the years for various public order misdemeanours.

The Mercury previously reported how he had become the first person in Weston banned from buying alcohol in any of the town’s pubs and off-licences as police looked to halt his bad behaviour.

As the banning order was not enough to prevent the 51-year-old from being drunk in public, last week a magistrate at North Somerset Courthouse in St Georges issued him with an ASBO.

Weston’s ASBO coordinator, Terry Crees, said: “Mr Gillard’s past antisocial conduct has been mainly centred in the town centre of Weston.

“The community and anyone visiting the town should be able to go about their daily business without suffering the abuse or unacceptable behaviour of someone clearly under the influence of alcohol.

“The conditions of the ASBO go much further than the drink banning order already in place, and ASBOs have a track record in resolving this type of issue.”

Police say the banning order only prevented him from buying alcohol directly from licensed premises, and that other people were still able to purchase it for him. They now claim the ASBO will stop him from consuming alcohol in any public place in North Somerset, and he is also banned from entering the town centre, unless attending the doctors or the hospital.

A police spokesman added: “The ASBO is significant because when it is combined with the banning order he has no place within hundreds of miles he can purchase, consume or be found in an alcohol induced state and cause further abuse to members of the public.

“That is what made the ASBO appropriate for pursuing.”

Figures from the Home Office earlier this year revealed that Avon and Somerset Constabulary is ranked the 16th highest out of the UK’s 42 forces which implement ASBOs, but the Coalition Government is set to abolish the orders next year and replace with a revised order.