The Home Office has revealed that a total of 7,356 Asbos (AntiSocial Behaviour Orders) have been slapped on English and Welsh miscreants since their introduction in April 1999, the BBC reports.

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears called antisocial behaviour a "harrowing experience" which "no-one should have to endure". The impressive figures demonstrated that "the police and the courts are not hesitating to use Asbos to clamp down on the problem".

Between July and September 2005, judges issued 816 Asbos - compared to a modest 54 during the same period in 2004. Even that impressive tally couldn't match the period from April to June 2005, when 948 ne'er-do-wells found themselves asboed.

Blears expressed herself "extremely encouraged" by the figures, adding they would send "a clear message to those people who persist in bad behaviour". ®