Council secures order banning gang member from borough for two years

A local authority in London has secured an order banning a gang member from coming into the borough for two years.

Allan Kalema, 18, was arrested in November last year in Holloway Road in possession of a large kitchen knife. The defendant had previously been identified as a member of a prominent gang and arrested a number of times before the latest incident.

The case was remitted to the Crown Court for sentencing. On 12 January, Kalema was given an 18-month custodial sentence after admitting possession of the knife.

The defendant had previously told the authorities he wished to escape from the gang culture, and Islington’s Family Intervention Project and the area’s ALMO, Homes for Islington, had helped secure alternative accommodation outside the borough.

As Kalema no longer lived in the borough, Islington’s anti-social behaviour team sought an ASBO preventing him returning to the area when he is released. This order runs until October 2014.

Cllr Barbara Sidnell, Islington Council's executive member for community safety, said: "We want a safer Islington with less crime, and we won't put up with the minority of trouble-makers. This case shows there is no place for knives on the streets of Islington and offenders will face firm action."

The Islington case comes two weeks after a 19-year-old from Edmonton, Dylan Martin, became the first person to be jailed in the UK for breaching a gang injunction.

The injunction had been obtained by Enfield Council’s legal and community safety teams. Martin was handed a suspended sentence in July last year but despite this, he was accused of continuing to meet known gang members. He has now been sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment.