A CROWN court judge says he is 'deeply disturbed' after magistrates imposed an Asbo on an alcoholic grandmother who made thousands of nuisance calls to police.

Judge Martin Steiger was also concerned that Jill Walton had already spent a total of five months in custody because her problem has made her homeless.

For more than four years, 51-year-old Walton bombarded the Greater Manchester Police switchboard with nuisance calls when drunk or upset, following the break-up of her marriage.

An anti-social behaviour order and several jail terms failed to stop her.

When she last appeared before Manchester Crown Court for breach of the Asbo in April, she was spared a jail sentence on the basis that prison was `inappropriate' for a person of her age and condition.

Judge Steiger deferred sentence for three months - and when she appeared before him again yesterday, he agreed to give her lawyer leave to appeal against the Asbo on the grounds that it should never have been granted by city magistrates two years ago.

Gill Crossley, defending, told the court that an Asbo should only be granted in cases where behaviour was deemed to be likely to cause alarm, distress or harassment. Another reason was to protect the public - and neither was appropriate in this case, she maintained.

Judge Steiger granted her leave to appeal against the order - which runs until 2011 - and said he was also `deeply disturbed' that the former hospital cleaner from Longsight had already spent five months in custody.

He adjourned sentence until Thursday so that probation officers who are involved in the case could study new psychiatric reports.