Man jailed for breaching '£2m Asbo' challenges order
A man who has been repeatedly jailed for the past eight years for defying an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) is seeking to have it overturned.
Simon Frodsham made his 44th appearance in court on Monday for breaching the order, which has banned him from the Lytham St Annes area since 2003.
But he said the Asbo breaches his civil rights and is applying to Blackpool Magistrates' Court to have it lifted.
His solicitor estimates that enforcing the Asbo has cost taxpayers about £2m.
Frodsham, 41, of no fixed abode, was initially banned from the area for repeatedly shoplifting and sleeping in church doorways - but he keeps going back.
He told the BBC: "I've defied the Asbo because I've believed it to be wrong.
"As a result of that I've had to spend almost eight years of my life in prison.
"I would rather die than live under something that I consider to be unjust.
"Being arrested simply for standing in the street in my own country is a fundamental breach of my civil rights."
Steven Townley, the solicitor acting for Frodsham, said his client had been singled out because he lives in a relatively affluent area.
"I think if he was a man who lived in Blackpool or Preston he never would have got into the top 50 of people who are subject to an anti-social behaviour orders," he said.
"If he steals a sandwich or causes an act of criminal damage the normal criminal law can properly deal with that - he can be punished for theft, he can be punished for criminal damage.
"The Asbo is not adding to that, it's not providing any additional protection to the public.
"Mr Frodsham is being punished for walking down the high street of his home town."
Mr Townley has lodged an application to have the Asbo lifted and a hearing will take place on Wednesday.
Frodsham was fined £50 by magistrates on Monday after he admitted breaching the terms of his order.