A Manchester eruv may still be under discussion but one local burglar has got his own, all to himself. One catch — he is not allowed to use it.

Cat-burglar Keith Doyle, 25, had such a taste for raiding Jewish houses that he has been banned from entering Manchester’s most Jewish area. The rare criminal antisocial behaviour order, or crasbo, issued by Manchester Crown Court, proclaims an exclusion area which runs along the four main roads surrounding the neighbourhood of Broughton Park. Doyle will be arrested if he is seen inside it.

But Doyle will not be carrying anything inside the zone for a while. After pleading guilty to burgling homes in Roston Road, Kersal Gardens and Okeover Road, almost entirely home to religious Jewish families, he was jailed for 18 months. He also admitted to attempted burglaries from three other nearby addresses in a five-week crime spree from July to September last year.

Salford Police Superintendent Lior Giladi says the crasbo, which will run until 2012, is the first he has seen to protect a Jewish community.

“Crasbos are hard to get, but because he was exclusively burgling Jewish houses for some time, it was issued. It’s good news for the community, and for the police.”

(Source: Jewish Chronicle)