At residents' meetings, Tim and Janice O'Reilly were among concerned locals who heard from police that names or pictures of troublemakes targeting the neighbourhood were needed to bring convictions.

But when Mrs O'Reilly attempted to take the photo of a 17-year-old lout - who was part of a drunken gang hurling abuse at the couple - he smashed her camera.

The thug, who was attempting to goad Mr O'Reilly into hitting him, then spat in his face.

After police were called the yob fled, so using their initiative, the couple used Bebo to confirm his identity.

Speaking after he was convicted of criminal damage and assault at Hastings Youth Court last Thursday (Feb 21), Mrs O'Reilly said: "The police had advised residents to collect photographic evidence.

"He was so drunk, they all were, even though they were underage. He started shouting at my husband, saying: 'Come on then, are you going to hit me? You can't touch me because I'm a juvenile.'

"All his friends were calling out his name and it's a very distinctive name. It only took a few minutes to find his profile on Bebo. All his personal details were there, plus a list of his friends and loads of pictures of him."

Thanks to the details found on the networking site, identification of the thug - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was confirmed.

The youth, who admitted assault, was ordered to pay Mr O'Reilly £50 for spitting in his face, at a hearing in October.

In court last Thursday, he changed his plea concerning criminal damage to guilty and was ordered to hand over £200 compensation for breaking Mrs O'Reilly's camera.

Prosecutor Leon Stringer told the court: "When police arrived, there was a large group of youths causing problems on the estate. The defendant had already fled by this point.

"They told the victims they would need to identify the youth in question before any action could be taken.

"They looked him up on Bebo and the defendant was arrested and interviewed. He initially denied spitting in the man's face and breaking the woman's camera but has now pleaded guilty."

The yob, who works part-time at Morrisons, has previous convictions for being drunk and disorderly and assault.

Mrs O'Reilly has kept a two-year diary of yob behaviour in her street, including numerous incidents of criminal damage, eggs being thrown at windows, underage drinking and anti-social behaviour.

She said: "I would like parents to keep tabs on where their kids are going in the evenings and what they are doing because I'm sure many are blissfully ignorant of the sorts of things they are getting up to.

"Underage drinking and associated anti-social behaviour is a growing culture among youths who seem to think they are above the law. It is actually a byelaw in Hastings not to drink alcohol in public, but it seems difficult to enforce.

"I would like to praise PC Natalie Brill for her ongoing efforts in trying to combat this problem."

Mr O'Reilly added: "We are annoyed that these youths were so disrespectful to people and property."