Ref. 75999 Lester Barnes INSET: Daniel as a toddler and adultTHE LAST time Lester Barnes laid eyes on his son he was an adorable 18-month-old toddler with golden hair and a smile that melted his heart.

Yesterday, Mr Barnes had the shock of his life when he picked up the Adver to find the child he once doted on so fondly had grown into 16-year-old yob Daniel Smith.

Earlier this week, Smith was banned from a Highworth street where he terrorised a family of five.

He tormented the Canavan family with relentless loud music and verbal abuse for 18-months.

And when the Adver demanded an apology on behalf of the family, he refused, and simply insulted them.

Mr Barnes a former warehouse worker from Abbey Meads read our story in disbelief.

"I didn't recognise his photograph, but when I read the name I was just shaking," he said.

"He was such a wonderful kid, I doted on him.

"We all go through difficult times, but what he did was disgusting, and I can't help but feel ashamed."

Mr Barnes' marriage collapsed soon after Daniel was born.

He and ex-wife Debra were unable to resolve visiting arrangements, and Mr Barnes wasn't able to maintain contact with Daniel, his younger sister Natasha and older brother Karl.

Now, he shoulders much of the blame for Daniel's wayward behaviour.

"I just don't think he would have turned out this way if we were still together," he said.

"I was off the scene, and I had developed such a strong bond with him. I know you shouldn't have favourites, but I felt more attached to Daniel.

"He was my blue-eyed boy, and couldn't do anything wrong. I had enormous affection for him, and would cycle home from work thinking about seeing him."

A couple of years ago, during a rare meeting with his ex-wife, she mentioned that Daniel was having problems.

"But I could never believe in a hundred years that things were this bad," he said.

Mr Barnes who had now re-married and has other children is unsure how he would react if he met his son again.

"It's hard to say, I mean at the end of the day he's my son and having had no contact does make it hard for him," he said.

"But I feel very sorry for the family he was harassing.

"It would be hard to ever have a normal relationship with him. He would have to change for that to happen."

After hearing about Smith's reign of terror, magistrates imposed an Anti-Social Behaviour Order banning him from Quarry Crescent, Station Road and Newburgh Place in Highworth.

The teenager had been living next door to Mandy Canavan, a nurse, her firefighter husband John and their three children but has since moved.

Tamash Lal