Teenager, 18, given ASBO aged 10 is stabbed 27 times trying to become drug gang boss

An 18-year-old man who was given an anti-social behaviour order when he was aged just 10 has been jailed after becoming a teenage drug gang boss.

Alfie Hodgin was caught with more than £2,000 of heroin and crack cocaine when police found him "slumped on the floor covered in blood."

He had been stabbed 27 times with a machete.

Police believe he had been attacked after he had stolen drugs and a phone from a county lines gang which he had previously been working for.

Hodgin has been caught up in the criminal justice system since a young age.

In December 2014, when he was only 10, Hodgin was handed an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) at Wirral Magistrates' Court after "terrorising the community".

He was one of the last people to be given an ASBO before they were replaced with civil injunctions and criminal behaviour orders.

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He was banned from "causing harassment, alarm or distress to members of the public" and was required to leave shops and businesses when asked to do so by staff for two years.

The primary school pupil was also ordered not to associate with a group of friends in public.

Only a month earlier, his older brother John - then aged 14 - had also received an ASBO.

The two were "believed to be part of a gang involved in a series of incidents in the north end" of Birkenhead.

Meanwhile, the elder sibling was said to have caused a "litany of trouble" and was "accused of being part of a gang that threw missiles at vehicles and hurled abuse at vulnerable people".

But the orders did not prevent them from breaking the law, and Hodgin received his first criminal conviction at the age of 13.

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He was first jailed in 2019 for possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Liverpool Crown Court heard this week that Hodgin had been making some progress at the team thanks to guidance from Everton in the Community, and by the time he had been released the coronavirus pandemic had struck and the "opportunity no longer existed" with the charity.

He then received further time behind bars in February 2021 having been caught with drugs, a phone and a "couple of weapons" in his prison cell.

He was out on licence when he became involved in peddling class-A drugs.

Hodgin had originally been put to work by an organised crime group to pay off a debt.

But he instead stole the gang's phone and drugs, turning it into his own operation.

In response, a gang of four men attacked Hodgin with machetes in a street in Ellesmere Port town centre in the early evening of 14 July this year.

Hodgin spent two weeks in hospital recovering and once he was released he was immediately arrested.

He admitted possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine and was locked up for two-and-a-half years.

Defence counsel John Weate said of Hodgin: "From a very young age, probably in his infancy, he has been subjected to living in a violent and criminal environment and a complete mistrust has developed within him of adults and people who may on the face of it be looking to help him.

"Everything has been disrupted by this life experience, which thankfully the vast majority of children don't have to experience.

"His education was completely and utterly disrupted through bad behaviour and through other issues which existed in his life.

"The glimmer of hope is a suggestion he wants to change. He seems determined to get a grip of his life and to do his level best in the future to make sure he doesn't find himself in this position again."