A WIRRAL man who breached the terms of his Gang Injunction has been jailed.

Kieran Salkeld was sentenced to 168 days in prison at Wirral Magistrates Court today.

The 26-year-old, from Beechwood, was found to have breached his conditions of non-association after a police investigation.

The Gang Injunction was originally issued on May 13 last year after police, working alongside local agencies, gathered extensive information to build up a picture of the impact Salkeld and others were having on communities in Birkenhead.

This included police officer statements, police incident logs and CCTV footage.

Working alongside local agencies, police gathered extensive information to build up a picture of the impact Salkeld and others were having on communities in the Birkenhead area.

This included police officer statements, police incident logs and CCTV footage.

After sentencing, community policing inspector Tom Welch said: "This shows again what a powerful tool such injunctions can be in our efforts to crack down on gang crime which blights the lives of decent, law-abiding people in our communities.

"This injunction continues until May 2021 and as we have shown, we will take proactive and decisive action to enforce all of its terms and police the restrictions rigorously.

"We're sure that the residents of the Beechwood estate will be as pleased as we are to see this result today.

"The injunctions, along with other powers, reduce the opportunity for criminal activity by preventing gang members from associating with each other or other criminals, and ensuring that the wider community is kept safe.

"Gang Injunctions give us the power to restrict the tools of criminals’ trade and where they can and cannot go.

"If officers see anyone breaching their gang injunction, they have extra powers of arrest and can take that gang member off the streets and put them back before the courts very quickly.

"With the threat of an injunction being triggered hanging over them, we believe they have deterred many from engaging in criminality and we have seen a reduction in violent incidents in areas where the injunctions have been in force."

Introduced in the Policing and Crime Act 2009, the aim of a gang injunction is to prevent a person from engaging in, encouraging or assisting gang-related violence and may also serve to protect them from gang-related violence.