Loopholes…

An injunction banning a prolific beggar from Colchester’s Greenstead estate for an unprecedented ten years has been scrapped.

Oh?

… a judge has overturned the ban and ordered the release of Ash after it was revealed he was not aware of the injunction because he cannot read and he was not present at the hearing.

And no-one thought to tell him?

/facepalm

Wait, it seems they did:

Solicitor Lucy Osborn, of Colchester firm OBW Perera, said: “Mr Ash was in prison when the paperwork was served against him.

“He can’t read and even if he could, he wouldn’t have been able to work it out for himself. ”

So he’s not only got to have it read to him, but explained as well?

“All Mr Ash wants to do is live at home with his mother.”

And all Mr Ash’s long-suffering neighbours want to do is go unmolested or harassed by a beggar in their own homes!

Ash was given an Asbo three years ago banning him from begging, entering homes without consent and using threatening, abusive or intimidating language, or behaviour.

Luckily for them, the housing organisation is not giving up:

A spokesman for Colchester Borough Homes, which is responsible for Colchester Council’s social housing, said it would be submitting a new application to prevent Ash from setting foot on the estate.

Julie Young, borough councillor for St Andrews, said residents had been left disappointed by the “legal hitch” and were hoping a new order would be made.

I’m beginning to think that we are only a year or so away from seeing people start to take the law into their own hands.