There are housing estates across Britain whose residents suffer because of a handful of menaces, both juvenile and adult.

These thugs ruin the reputation of areas, which end up being ghettoised because of the negative image they gain.

They become no-go areas with homes boarded up because families refuse to live there.

East Brighton, with its Moulsecoomb and Whitehawk estates, is an area which has in recent years found itself in this position.

But the decent people within these communities are fighting back.

They have welcomed the Government's New Deal for Communities scheme to regenerate the area.

The families and decent, law-abiding people living in East Brighton are sick of the minority wrecking the community for everyone else.

One troublesome teenager, 17-year-old Robert Johnson, of Ringmer Close, Moulsecoomb, has learned that the law will no longer tolerate his anti-social behaviour. Magistrates have told him if he fails to behave, he could face five years in jail.

Hopefully he will grow up, look around him and appreciate how lucky he is to live in an improving area in a fantastic city.