He has reputedly stolen dozens of cars in the past year and was labelled a menace to society. Daniel Bowler's behaviour could now cost his family their home.

Leering and pulling V signs, the image of Daniel staring out from the front page of The Argus appeared to typify all that is wrong with teenage Britain.

Here was a boy out of control, with no respect for anyone or anything, hell-bent on making the lives of those around him a misery.

After months of complaints from those whose lives he blighted, police went through the lengthy legal process of obtaining an interim antisocial behaviour order (Asbo). He was told to either change his ways or prepare for five years in prison.

Brighton Housing Trust applied for a possession order on his family home because his behaviour amounted to a breach of tenancy.

But according to his mother, Daniel, 15, cannot change.

June Boulaich, 32, first noticed her son was different when he was a toddler. He was listless, aggressive, violent and unable to concentrate.

It was several years before his behaviour was diagnosed as the symptom of a complex psychiatric disorder which includes Asperger's syndrome (a form of autism), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and pervasive development disorder.

June has tried everything she can to control him, including shipping him off to a remote farm in Africa, to no avail.

Now she believes the authority's recent decision to use such "draconian" legal measures is too little too late.

Her views are backed up by the experts.

A report from his forensic psychiatrist said: "I believe simple punishment through the criminal justice system will be ineffective in dealing with Daniel's behaviour.

"I see Daniel as a young man with complex emotional, behavioural and psychological needs who will need a constructive and complex approach involving professionals from a number of agencies to try to change the disturbed behaviour habits he has developed."

June said: "I have been actively trying to get him help since he was five but even before that you could tell there was something wrong.

"He had no imagination and no concentration span so he needed constant attention. He could never sit down and watch TV, he still can't, and he didn't have a favourite toy because he couldn't focus on one thing.

"I used to hate taking him to school because he was always running off and running in the road. He had no sense of danger but he didn't grow out of that like other children.

"I had to keep all the windows closed and keep everything dangerous locked away.

"When we went into shops he would want everything and pull things off the shelves.

"Part of his condition meant he didn't sleep, he smashed things up and he had an eating disorder which meant he ate until he was sick so sometimes he would eat everything in the house.

"It was when I was begging my GP to prescribe Daniel with valium just so we could all get some sleep that he referred him to the forensic psychiatrist.

"She said she couldn't believe he had not been diagnosed before and if he had been given the help he needed from the start he probably wouldn't be in this position now.

"Social services wouldn't help because I'm not an alcoholic or a drug addict so they didn't see Daniel as being in danger.

"At one point I had to ask my neighbour to ring them up and say she thought I was killing my son just to get them to come round, because I really didn't think I could cope.

"I didn't have the money to pay for the repairs on the house and I couldn't take him out or turn my back on him in case he ran in the road or started fighting with my younger son Bilal. We were like prisoners in our own home.

"I have followed all the advice schools and doctors have given me. We have tried all sorts of different regimes but he always ends up being isolated from the other kids."

Being "different" at school is never the best policy for survival in the playground.

One day Daniel came home with cigarette burns on his face.

Graham, his uncle, said: "We went mental. He was being bullied and having his stuff stolen at a school where kids were smoking and climbing on the roof. The school even rang up to get us to take Daniel home because it said it couldn't protect him."

June said: "I felt terrible making him go back there but because there was nowhere else for him to go I was scared I would end up in court."

In June last year the family obtained a grant for a place at a school for children with behavioural difficulties. But there was one condition - Daniel must not get into trouble with the police until the term started in September.

She said: "Getting that place was the answer to all my prayers and I was determined to keep Daniel out of trouble so I shipped the whole family out to Morocco."

They set up home for the summer in a goat herder's shack belonging to Bilal's grandmother.

Bilal is Daniel's half-brother, whose father is Moroccan.

It had no running water or electricity and was 25 miles from the nearest town.

June said: "It was awful but we stuck it out because I was determined to keep Danny out of trouble.

"All our stuff was stolen when we arrived, even though we had taken out loads of pens and paper and medicine for the locals because they have nothing. We kept seeing them walking around wearing our clothes but there was nothing we could do because we were on our own, miles from anywhere.

"There were sheep, cows, donkeys and goats and Daniel kept causing havoc by letting all the animals loose because he couldn't understand why they were tied up.

"There was one goat who hated everyone in the village but absolutely loved Daniel.

"It was really hard but we made it. We got to see some amazing moons and shooting stars when we slept on the roof and we saw dolphins in the sea once.

"Both boys are a lot less materialistic since Morocco because they saw how little some people really have."

The family moved back in time for Daniel to start at the new school but less than eight weeks into term he smashed all the windows.

June said: "He said he did it to make sure he got expelled. I even threatened to send him back to Morocco but it was no good. The other children in his year had been together for a while and had bonded but he just got bullied."

That was last October and since then Daniel has learnt how to hotwire cars and has earned his reputation as a prolific car thief, once stealing five in one day.

He has mistakenly overdosed twice on prescription drugs. The second time doctors said it was touch-and-go whether he would survive.

June said: "We begged them to put him in a secure unit when that happened, not just for his sake but for mine and Bilal's as well.

"He's not violent and he's not a bully but he's easily led. He's not criminally minded - stealing cars is a symptom of his illness.

"He loves animals - when he did work experience at a donkey sanctuary the owners were so impressed they offered him a job. He just needs the right sort of help and medication."

Daniel is due to start attending Colewood Adolescent Mental Health Unit in July and June will make a formal appeal against the Asbo in September.

She has collected almost 30 letters from neighbours praising the family for the way they have struggled to cope.

Tony Greenstein, secretary of the Brighton Unemployed Workers' Centre, was contacted by friends of June to offer support.

He said: "Asbos were designed to get rid of neighbours from hell, husbands and wives who are smashing bottles and arguing in the street. There's a good argument for them if you have got a family that is out of control.

"But in this instance there's a hard-working, one-parent family already stretched to the limit trying to deal with a problem child. What the hell will evicting them do to help anyone? It's just storing up problems for the future."

A spokesman for Brighton Housing Trust said: "We have met our obligations to residents in Lynchet Close and we have provided the family with a support worker.

"This is a very difficult situation and we hope it can be resolved in everyone's best interests."