THIS is the face of Oxford's most prolific cycle thief - the first person to be given an Asbo banning him from having a cycle anywhere in the city.

Anthony Woods, 29, of Speedwell Street in central Oxford, was well known by police for targeting school and college grounds to steal students' cycles.

But now he has been hit with a two year antisocial behaviour order which not only bans him from having a cycle within the city's ring-road but also from entering any school or college unless he is a student there.

About 2,000 cycles are stolen in the city a year and police have launched a major crackdown, believing many are stolen on the orders of organised gangs.

PC Robert Steel, the Asbo officer for Oxford, said: "He Woods is the first person to be given an Asbo for cycle-related crime.

"He has been quite a problem for a long time.

"He is well known in Oxford for cycle thefts and related crimes and is certainly a prolific offender.

"He has caused a considerable level of harassment and distress to students and the travelling public as a result of his activities.

"Students spend money on push bikes as their main method of transport and commuters leave their bikes at train stations expecting to find them there at the end of the day. This should be the way it is and we are cracking down on cycle theft.

"This isn't just one offence - he has been stealing bikes in the Oxford area for a number of years."

Woods' one-man bike-thieving crime spree dates back to August 2003 and police are unable to estimate exactly how many he has stolen in that time.

PC Steel said Woods had become such a prolific offender that police even noticed a pattern of cycle theft crime relating to his whereabouts.

He said: "When he was out of the area we noticed changes in the level of cycle theft crime."

PC Steel said the conditions of Woods' Asbo were based on his previous criminal behaviour for which he has been arrested, charged and convicted on several occasions.

He received the Asbo at Didcot Magistrates' Court last Monday when he was also convicted of theft and handling, for which he was given a 12-month community penalty.

PC Jim Abram, of Oxford's cycle crime team, added: "Cycle crime accounts for ten per cent of recorded crime in Oxford. Some 2,000 cycles are stolen each year in the city.

"This Asbo being granted is a step forward in tackling the issue of cycle crime in Oxford.

"It is a warning to any cycle thieves and those who handle stolen bicycles. We are cracking down on this crime and making more arrests each year."