THE bizarre law which allows persistent juvenile offenders to have their identity protected when they breach anti-social behaviour orders is ripe for change.

And we welcome the fact that the Government is planning to put an end to the legal nonsense which we saw in Darlington last week.

A 14-year-old youth, whose name has already been circulated by the borough council, and whose photograph has already appeared in The Northern Echo, cannot now be identified because he has carried on offending in defiance of an Asbo.

That is because the law allows us to name young offenders when they are given Asbos, but applies an automatic ban on identification when they breach the orders. As we said last week, it is inconsistent, confusing and barmy.

Thankfully, the law is on course to be changed, with the Government not surprisingly hoping to force through a legal amendment by the time it goes into a general election with the issue of anti-social behaviour at the top of its agenda.

We hope magistrates in Darlington will see the writing on the wall and agree to our continued requests for last week's decision to be overturned.

We hope they will see that it makes no sense whatsoever to allow the public to be told who is terrorising their communities, and then suddenly decide it is a matter of secrecy.

We hope they will see the logic in naming and shaming young hooligans throughout the legal process so that members of the public can see that effective action is being taken to clean up our streets.