Ricky Weblin went to great lengths to be the naughtiest boy in school.

He lived up to his name as the bad boy until fighting in the playground became brawling, swearing and stealing on the streets.

He has now been given an interim anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) by Brighton magistrates and told he could face five years in prison if he breached it.

His family knew him as a difficult child so he was sent to a school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties at seven.

His condition, known as Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, went undiagnosed until he was 14.

He said: "I spent my whole life labelled as a naughty boy. At that school all the kids were naughty and I wasn't going to be the only good one so I decided to be the baddest one."

He explained how he grew to like the kudos that being naughty gave him and that encouraged him even more.

He said: "Being a naughty boy was the only thing I had going for me."

His behaviour escalated until Ricky spent the last six months terrorising traders and shoppers in Churchill Square and Western Road along with four friends.

They saw themselves as society's outcasts who had been let down by "the system".

The teenager said: "We decided to take it out on the public. I had years of frustration and anger that just came out and we became a five-strong crime wave.

"We thought, someone has to be the nasty ones. I really didn't think of the long-term consequences. It was our intention to go to prison together, which was stupid because we would have been split up.

"In the end it went too far. It's like when you drink that extra beer or glass of wine, even though you know it's going to make you sick. That is what it was like.

"I got bored of it. I got bored of causing a scene and having people staring.

"I have been beaten up a few times because of the things I have said to people.

"I liked being in a group because it felt safe and I liked the power of leading the way because I was the mouth of the group.

"I admit we were terrorising everyone and we enjoyed the power. There wasn't anything else to do.

"I know now I was kicking off at staff who were just doing their job by trying to stop me shoplifting. Now I enjoy acting like an adult and being responsible for myself."

His grandmother, Evelyn, said: "If I knew then what I know now about Asperger's, we would have treated him very differently.

"Once we were invited to stay with some friends in Devon.

"He knew them and their daughter and they got on well. But he didn't know the house or area and kept asking what it was like and getting really frustrated because I couldn't tell him.

"He needed to know what lay ahead. In the end I got him a map and he plotted the route so he could see where we were going and then he was happy. That's Asperger's for you."

Andreas Serghis, who defended Ricky in court, said: "This behaviour is a nuisance and no one is denying that but the way to deal with it is not by a Draconian measure that could lead to the imprisonment of a lad with profound problems.

"I'm shocked the order was made. I think it's wrong and I'm sad that in 2003 we are going down the road to fascism.

"This is punishing people with birth defects and genetic disorders because they are not normal."

Ricky has drifted apart from his friends, met a girlfriend, and started to concentrate on making music on computer, in particular drum 'n' bass.

He said: "It's too late for the order because I have decided to change already - and you don't have to be good boy to do music."