A violent drug dealer and robber, with a 25-year history of convictions, has been banned from much of Bradford for the rest of his life.

Bradford Council successfully applied to magistrates for an indefinite anti-social behaviour order against 41-year-old Paul Torfor Ullah.

Under the terms of the order, Ullah is banned from entering Bradford city centre and surrounding areas including Girlington, Lidget Green and Great Horton.

The order stipulates that he cannot use, supply or possess any illegal drugs within the Bradford boundary or harass, alarm or distress anyone in the district. He is banned from instructing or encouraging anyone else to behave in such a way.

He can only enter the exclusion zone if he has pre-arranged appointments with a doctor, solicitor, Department of Social Security or other official organisations. Any breach of the order is punishable by up to five years in jail.

Bradford magistrates were told yesterday that Ullah had threatened vulnerable Council tenants with violence and, in some instances, had taken over their homes after forcing them to flee.

Ullah was said to have already breached previous county Court injunctions and the court heard that his activities had continued even after the Council obtained an interim order against him in January.

Ullah, who has convictions dating back to 1978, was not in court, but Council prosecutor Richard Winter said that he had been served with papers relating to the application and the reason for his absence was that he was believed to be in custody.

Mr Winter outlined a catalogue of previous convictions relating to Ullah, covering offences including robbery, burglary, taking cars without consent, possessing drugs with intent to supply and living off immoral earnings. He said since July last year Ullah had been involved in forcibly taking over council properties from tenants and had breached county court injunctions.

Mr Winter said the Council had decided to use the powers under the Crime and Disorder Act to apply for the order because Ullah had previously received only suspended prison sentences for breaching county court injunctions.

The court was told that within days of the interim order being approved by magistrates in January, Ullah and two other men went to the home of a woman in Girlington and demanded access to the property and told her "If you don't get out we'll burn the house down", said Mr Winter.

"That's the sort of behaviour that Paul Ullah has demonstrated over many years," he told magistrates.

Because the latest incident took place just outside the exclusion zone imposed in the interim order Mr Winter successfully applied to extend it to include Girlington, Lidget Green and Great Horton.

Ullah, whose last known address was believed to have been his brother-in-law's home in Daniel Court, Holme Wood, can appeal against the order.

Today Councillor Kris Hopkins, executive member for community which includes housing, warned that the Council would continue to go to court to deal with troublemakers. He said: "Whether people live in a Bradford Community Housing Trust property or private dwelling they have a right to live in a safe community.

"Bradford Council takes its responsibilities very seriously and this behaviour has been going on for a very long period. I want to send out a very clear message that other individuals will continue to be dealt with in these terms."