A LABOUR Party boss has been accused of using a 16-year-old teenager as a "political football".

Rival politicians have slammed Cllr Guy Harkin and his fellow Labour candidates in the Hulton ward for releasing an election leaflet which identifies the boy as being the subject of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO).

It also includes a picture of someone apparently burgling a house.

The leaflet says the ASBO is the 42nd the council has taken out against individuals.

It describes the teenager, whom the Bolton Evening News is not naming for legal reasons, as a "one-man crime" wave and claims the Deane, Daubhill and Over Hulton areas have suffered at his hands.

Cllr Andy Morgan, a Conservative candidate in the ward, said: "We support the use of ASBOs -- but I believe it is completely inappropriate to turn an individual case such as this into an election issue.

"Whatever this boy has done, he is aged just 16 and should not be used as a political football to gain a few votes by one party or another.

"ASBOs have been useful in stopping criminal behaviour, but they are a reflection of the council's success in this area and not just of one party's."

Cllr Harkin, who has been deputy leader of Bolton Council for 20 years, has hit back at his critics, telling them they should be more worried about the victims of crime.

"They need to decide who they support -- the muggers and burglars or the decent law-abiding people whose lives are made a misery by the people who are under ASBOs," he said.

"The police want people responsible for such mindless criminality to be made known to the public so they can shop them if they break the conditions of the order -- that is what ASBOs are all about."

Linden Greensitt, a Liberal Democrat candidate for the ward, said: "I don't think individual cases such as this should be used in electioneering, particularly when it concerns a minor.

"But if we were in a position of power, we would try just as hard to secure ASBOs."

Over the last year, no single party has held a majority on Bolton Council, with Labour holding 27 seats, the Conservatives having 19 and the Lib Dems 14. The Hulton ward promises to be one of the most fiercely fought in this year's election campaign, with five sitting councillors among those fighting it out over just three seats.

All council seats will be put to the ballot on June 10 because of changes to the ward boundaries.

The full list of candidates standing in Hulton is: Phillip Ashcroft (Con), Paul Fitzpatrick (Lab), Michael Francis (Lab), Linden Greensitt (Lib Dem), Guy Harkin (Lab), Joseph Hayes (Lib Dem), Kieran Alexander (Lib Dem), Andy Morgan (Con) and Alan Walsh (Con).