A YORK persistent beggar and heroin addict is back behind bars after breaching an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) for the second time.

Jeffrey Ward, 28, became the first person in York to be sent to prison for breaching an ASBO in March, after being found by police begging outside York Station. His arrest came fewer than 48 hours after magistrates imposed the order banning him from begging.

On Saturday, Ward was arrested, after a police officer caught him begging again, this time on the pavement near Bootham Bar.

His solicitor, Craig Sutcliffe, told York Magistrates Court yesterday that though Ward had expected he would breach the ASBO when it was originally imposed, he had hoped the court would send him to prison so he could undergo "cold turkey".

But Mr Sutcliffe said Ward, of Ordnance Lane, Fulford, had discovered beating his drug addiction was not as easy as he had hoped.

He said: "There has been very little by way of intervention or alternatives for Mr Ward.

"It's very easy to simply put him on an ASBO and get him out of everybody's hair by imprisoning him on a regular basis."

Mr Sutcliffe said Ward might now be prepared to accept help or treatment.

But presiding magistrate Graeme Robertson sentenced Ward to 42 days in prison. He was also given 28 days for stealing three bottles of alcopops from the Jacksons store in Fulford, to run concurrently.

Mr Robertson said: "We consider this to be a serious offence, the direct disobeying of a previous court order for the second time."

In March, the Evening Press caught Ward begging on the streets within hours of receiving the ASBO that banned him from doing so.

He told us he had no choice but to continue begging to feed the £30-a-day heroin habit he has had for three years.

He was then sentenced to 14 days in prison.

Updated: 10:37 Tuesday, May 11, 2004