A MAN banned from the entire borough of Colchester due to his frequent offending has written from his prison cell promising to fight the order.

Kelvin Mathers, 31, taunted police officers telling them he will wipe the smiles off their faces and overturn the ban.

Kelvin, who has clocked up 38 convictions for 61 offences, says he only gets in trouble when he has been drinking but says he can quit.

He is serving a jail sentence at HMP Chelmsford.

He and brother Ashley, 29, were banned from the borough after clocking up 80 convictions between them during a decade of offending.

Kelvin and Ashley can only come back for court appearances or hospital appointments.

The injunction was requested by Colchester Borough Homes and agreed by Judge Roderick Newton at Chelmsford County Court on Friday, October 5.

In the letter, Kelvin also denied there is a rift between his mother and refuted claims by half-brother Marcu Southernwood who said the brothers had been physically violent towards him.

Despite being banned for life from watching his beloved Colchester United, he signs off his letter: “Up the U’s, Barside barmy army”.

Ashley has 42 convictions for a total of 87 offences.

<i>To Colchester Gazette,
It is me, Kelvin Mathers, from my prison cell in Chelmsford.
I am writing this letter to you because I am not happy about this injunction banning me from the borough of Colchester.
I have done some bad things in life and I am sorry to some of the people.
You said my mother no longer wants anything to do with me but I do not know how that can be as I have had letters from her.
We get on well and she has always helped me out when she can.
The thing about Marcus is all made up as I have not seen him for up to seven years.
Me or my brother have not hit him and I do not know why he is coming out with that.
I am going to go to my solicitors to see what I can do about this injunction.
I am hoping to get back to Colchester as I have a brother, Jason, there and we get on well. He helps me keep off the drink.
I bet Colchester Chief Inspector Paul Wells is happy, the joker. He is getting too old for the job.
I know I get drunk but the police keep coming over to me and my brother, Ashley, when we are doing nothing.
It is not like we cause trouble day-after-day.
You would think that the courts would help people like me and my brother but no, they just bang people up.
It is bad when I have to come to prison to get help for my drinking.
PC David Hirst does not know what he is talking about. He is a joke and I have always had trouble from him.
He did not like me or my brother but that goes two ways.
It is not right for the courts to do this.
I am a lot better now and have been off the drink for five weeks. Prison does help some people.
I would like to stop because I know I upset a lot of people, but when I am drunk I do not think about what I am doing.
I have not got into any trouble when not drunk so yes, I will have to stop or go to places to get help - and I can do it.
A lot of people are upset that we cannot go back to Colchester and they think it is a joke.
I am going to go all the way with this. I do not think Paul Wells will be happy for long. I am two minutes from the Borough.
Up the U’s, Barside barmy army!
Kelvin Mathers
Prisoner number A329OAY, HMP Chelmsford.</i>