TERRIBLE twins slapped with Asbos for a campaign of booze-fuelled abuse have become model citizens - with the help of their vicar mum.

Katie and Ashleigh Lynch, both 21, were taken to court in February last year after a string of complaints from neighbours in their Rossendale village.

The pair - who have the same hairstyle, glasses and slim figures - were banned from using threatening behaviour or being drunk in a public place.

But they turned their lives around and began regularly attending church to support their mother, Sheila Lynch, who was training to become a vicar.

Now Katie has a job at a local Poundland store, while Ashleigh is mum to six-month-old Bradley. And Sheila - who was finally ordained by the Church of England at a service at Manchester Cathedral on Sunday - has spoken of her pride in her daughters.

"They both come to church on a regular basis to watch me in services and have both supported me while I have been doing it," said the 53-year-old. "There have not been any problems since the order was made and they have both now settled down.

"They used to go to church all the time when they were young but like most teenagers stopped as they didn't see it as being cool any more.

"The church has given the twins an awful lot of support and help and the fact that they go to church makes me very proud."

The twins said they began to change their lives whilst serving a week in Styal women's prison for breaching the Asbos, which run out next February.

The orders ban them from using threatening behaviour in the Waterfoot area and drinking alcohol or being drunk in a public place. They met a vicar in prison and - after hearing of the death of another inmate - spent time thinking about their lives.

Katie said: "Without the support we get at church we would probably be locked up now.

"When we were locked up we really missed home, but we did start to think about what we put mum through when we stayed out.

"When we got out we decided to give church a go. We are very proud and I've told a few people about mum recently.

"We have changed. We do not get into trouble any more." Ashleigh said: "When we started going to church people there talked to us differently, they showed us different ways of dealing with situations. They taught me how to ignore it if people said things I didn't like."

The girls were initially banned from living at home with their mum in Fairfield Avenue, Edgeside, but have now returned.

Sheila, a trained practice nurse, has achieved her new status through a Church scheme that trains volunteers to become vicars in the areas they know best.

She will now help the Rev Rod Bevan in her local church, St Anne's, for 12 months as a deacon before potentially becoming a priest.