A CAREER criminal branded Bournemouth's dumbest car thief has spoken out against the Asbo which he claims has "set me up to fail".

Graham Hill is banned from a large part of Bournemouth where his family lives and claims he is unable to access vital drug rehab services or get work in the area because of the restrictions.

Hill, 26, has 38 court appearances and 90 offences to his name. In July he was made the subject of a six-point Anti-social Behaviour Order. He has been accused of breaching the order and is in custody.

But an impassioned speech resulted in two of the six conditions being removed and modifications made to others.

Hill appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court in a bid to overturn the five-year order and told the court he was trying to change.

"I believe that with help and support I can maintain a drug-free life and get myself on the straight and narrow but I am being set up to fail if I can't go to certain areas, get myself clean and get work," he said.

Speaking in favour of the order, barrister Amy Kelly told the court: "Mr Hill is an opportunistic thief. Everyone has bent over backwards to try to help Mr Hill.

"Local people of Bourne-mouth need to be protected from him. The best way to protect them is by way of the Asbo that has been made."

In Hill's favour the court heard that a condition preventing him from carrying certain tools would stop him working as a motor mechanic.

Judge Samuel Wiggs agreed and modified the condition to allow Hill to use the tools at home and at work.

A curfew banning Hill from leaving his place of residence between 10pm and 7am until July 30, 2009, was described by his barrister Tom Horder as a "draconian step". Judge Wiggs accepted the argument and struck the curfew from the conditions of Hill's Asbo.

The judge also removed a condition barring Hill from possession of "drugs paraphernalia", telling the court "one has to be realistic" when dealing with drug addicts.

Hill will also be allowed to follow an agreed route to his mother's house in Shelley Close, Boscombe, through the area from which he is banned.

The exclusion zone extends roughly from Westbourne to Belle Vue Road in South-bourne, as far north as the Wessex Way. A route from the Wessex Way along Holden-hurst Road and Ashley Road to Shelley Close was accepted by Judge Wiggs.