A teenager has been banned from parts of Gravesend town centre after being served with a two-year anti-social behaviour order.

Jack Percival, 16, of Cedar Avenue, Gravesend, appeared at Dartford Magistrates’ Court charged with failing to obey a dispersal order set up in the Denton area, assaulting a shopkeeper on October 18 and obstructing a police officer on November 29.

He refused to leave the dispersal zone – implemented by officers in December allowing them to disperse any group of two or more people found causing or likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress – when told to on January 20.

The conditions of the anti-social order prohibit Percival from riding on any motorised bike, verbally abusing, threatening or making abusive gestures to any person, entering the Denton area with more than one other person, excluding adult family members, or entering the Palmer Avenue, Warrior Avenue, Montgomery Close, Bramble Mews or the Beckett Mews area.

PC James Walker said: "Percival has made a nuisance of himself on these estates for a number of years and has caused residents distress, frustration and worry.

"I’m delighted the court has seen fit to impose this order on him and hope this serves as a warning to others who think it is acceptable to behave in this manner.

"It should also serve as reassurance for residents that we will not tolerate this type of behaviour and will act upon any instances of anti-social behaviour reported to us with the full force of the law.’