A WOMAN from Tongham appeared at Guildford County Court on March 21 for breaching her anti-social behaviour injunction by begging at the Esso petrol station on the A31 Hogs Back.

Julie Ann Stevens, who first received this injunction on October 6, 2017, at Guildford County Court prohibiting her from begging within 20 miles of her home address, admitted to approaching a member of public for money at the petrol station on January 14, 2018.

The judge accepted that Ms Stevens was remorseful and accepted her assurances she would not breach the order again. She was sentenced to time already spent in custody following her arrest, so this sentence has been deemed served.

The judge commented that she was also imposing an additional prohibition, preventing Stevens from attending the Esso petrol station on the Hogs Back, “to prevent further harassment of the public.”

Joanna Grimshaw, from the anti-social behaviour team at Surrey Police said: “Julie Ann Stevens is well known in the area and it is thanks to the local community that she was caught breaching her conditions.

“We need to send a strong message to those who seek to break their Injunctions and we would urge members of the public to alert us to any further breaches in the future.”

Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions (ASBI) are civil injunctions and do not give the individual a criminal record. ASBIs were introduced in the ASB, Crime and Policing Bill 2014 as one of the replacements for the ASBO, and can tackle a diverse range of anti-social behaviour problems.