A North-East teenager has been made the subject of Britain's toughest anti-social behaviour order yet.

Fourteen-year-old Shane Preston has been banned for an unprecedented four years from entering an estate in the Darlington constituency of Labour's new policy supremo, Alan Milburn.

Officials from Darlington Borough Council yesterday delivered hundreds of leaflets to households on the Skerne Park estate advising that the ban was in force and declaring: "Your streets are safer".

But his furious mother last night criticised the council for its publicity campaign, insisting he was being made a scapegoat for the estate's crime troubles.

Paula Preston said: "He's never terrorised people or harassed them - that's just not Shane."

Community safety chiefs said the youngster was responsible for a large amount of criminal activity on the estate, including stealing motorcyclists and riding them recklessly, harassing and intimidating residents.

The order, imposed by Bishop Auckland magistrates, bans Shane from setting foot in Skerne Park and its surrounding areas. It also prohibits him from:

* Carrying out assaults, harassing, intimidating or threatening people;

* Taking or interfering with property or riding motorcycles;

* Kicking or throwing footballs against any property or vehicle;

* Disrupting classes at school and refusing to obey school staff.

A curfew preventing him from going out between 9pm and 7am is also in force.

Council leader John Williams said: "Let his punishment serve as a warning to others who think they can terrorise our communities and get away with it."

He pledged similar publicity campaigns would be waged against any other Darlington youths who become the subject of ASBOs.

Mr Milburn, who backed the council's stance, said: "Anti-social behaviour can ruin neighbourhoods and make the lives of decent hard-working families a misery."

But Shane's mother, Paula, insisted he had "not put one foot wrong" since being given the ASBO order last month. "This is just totally unfair," she said. "They're punishing Shane twice by doing this.

"Since he's had the ASBO he's been really good. He has stuck to his curfew, he hasn't been near Skerne Park and he's been going to school."