TWO hooligan brothers face up to five years behind bars if they set foot near a Southampton estate and primary school in the next two years.

Eighteen-year-old David John Higgins and his younger brother Andrew, 16, were part of a gang of yobs that targeted Thornhill's Kanes Hill Primary School and nearby Fairfax Court during a year-long reign of abuse and threats.

Now, in the first court action of its kind brought by Southampton City Council, the pair - who admitted causing the persistent troubles - have been ordered to keep away from the school and the homes of local residents for the next two years.

If the brothers, who are both unemployed and live at their family home in Hinkler Road, break the conditions of the anti-social behaviour order they could face up to five years behind bars.

Council community safety chiefs hope the jail threat will send out a tough message to the city's troublemakers.

And, after the Daily Echo and City Council applied to have reporting restrictions lifted, Eastleigh magistrates allowed the younger brother to be named, despite being only 16, as a public warning to others.

Roger Honey, manager of the council's city safety team, said after the hearing: "The message we are sending out is that Southampton Council will not tolerate anti-social behaviour and will take whatever steps are necessary to bring about a cessation of that behaviour.

"People's lives in that area were being made a misery by these two young men. Since we commenced these proceedings their behaviour has been greatly improved. That goes to show the impact of these orders."

The Higgins, who both attended the Kanes Hill school as children, were pulled up by police and council chiefs earlier this year for continually being drunk and abusive to local residents and parents and making threats to a former headteacher, who is no longer at the school.

But both brothers, who have also been banned from driving illegally in the city or repairing, dismantling or destroying any cars outside their home, still insist they are not the thugs they have been made out to be.

David Higgins told the Daily Echo: "They say we were abusive to school staff but we said nothing to them.

"The police have stopped us and asked us to move on or keep the noise down in the past but other than that they have not really been bothered by us."

Andrew Higgins added: "There's not a lot I can say about the order. We have no choice but to stick to it, whether we like it or not.

"There was a group of us but I'm not about to grass anybody up. We'll just have to stick to it for the next two years."

The order is the first of its kind for Southampton City Council which was recently given powers under new government legislation to take such civil action against troublemakers.

The case follows the footsteps of neighbouring authority Eastleigh Borough Council which was the first council in Hampshire to take out an anti-social behaviour order.

Southampton Itchen MP John Denham said: "I am very pleased with the action that has been taken.

"I have supported these orders and have been urging the police and the council for some time to enforce them.

"It is good news for the residents of Southampton to know that the consistent anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.''