Chloe Brown has been banned from begging anywhere in the Oxford city area If this woman is seen begging anywhere in the Oxford city area, she could face up to five years behind bars.

That was the warning given by a district judge to serial beggar Chloe Brown yesterday (Friday) when she was given a two-year Antisocial Behaviour Order banning her from conning cash from strangers anywhere within the Oxford ring road.

Judge Brian Loosly, sitting at Oxford Magistrates' Court, also barred Brown, 20, from the Gloucester Green bus station, where she regularly approached passengers and passers-by, claiming to have had her bag stolen.

Caroline Hitchcock, prosecuting, said Brown was given amounts up to £10, usually to buy herself bus fares, but never made the journeys.

The court heard that Brown, who stays at the English Church Housing hostel, in Speedwell Street, was either captured on CCTV or spotted by police officers on half-a-dozen occasions between January 15 and March 20 this year.

On February 14 she was seen at 7pm by officers asking for £4.70, and, when arrested, she admitted she needed the cash for food and drugs and said she couldn't help it. Mrs Hitchcock said she had been warned on a number of occasions by the city centre beat officer, Pc Paul Phillips, but had failed to take his advice not to beg in the city centre.

On the last occasion, she was seen on CCTV speaking to two men, one of whom gave her £10, and the other £5. When Pc Phillips was called and confronted her, she tried to return the cash. After her arrest, Brown tested positive for cocaine, said Mrs Hitchcock.

Eric Packer, defending, described it as "a sad case", saying Brown's drug-taking had started at the age of 15, after her parents separated three years earlier.

Referring to her other admitted charges of obtaining cash and goods by deception by stolen credit cards on September 25 last year, and again on January 14, Mr Loosly told Brown: "If I have anybody in front of me for theft of a purse or handbag or a wallet, I put them straight into custody.

"If tempted again, I shall put you inside for a long time."

Imposing the Asbo to cover all the offences, he warned Brown that if she was seen either in Gloucester Green, or begging anywhere within the ring road, she would face five years' jail for breaching the order.

She was also ordered to undertake a year's drug treatment and testing, as well as a year's supervision order. A further charge of theft of £263 cash from an Oxford Bus Company driver, which she has denied, was adjourned until May 3 for reports.