Many human rights activists are against naming and shaming

Russell Jones claims their plan to distribute leaflets with photographs and personal details of individuals to the general public breaches European Human Rights legislation.

He said he decided to report them when he saw an advertisement in the BT phone book which described the force as being "fully committed to the principals of human rights legislation".

The issue of whether the publication of the leaflets breaches human rights is subject of much debate.

Essex Police ran into difficulties after a burglar successfully stopped their plans for a "name and shame" poster campaign.

Having remembered the previous case in Essex I decided to contact Advertising Standards this morning Russell Jones

Gary Ellis, a 28-year-old drug addict, won a partial victory when the Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf ordered further research into the scheme's potential effect on the shamed criminal's family.

Essex Police claimed the posters might act as a deterrent to those planning to commit crime but Ellis claimed his family would be stigmatised.

But Mr Ellis claimed that the campaign could breach his right to a private family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The force has since decided not to continue with the Gary Ellis poster campaign.

Mr Jones from Cefn Mawr near Wrexham said if the ruling was a grey area for Essex Police then the same applies to North Wales.

Order breached

"As soon as I heard about their decision, I happened to look at my telephone book for the number for North Wales Police and I noticed they said in their advertisement that they were fully committed to human rights legislation," he said.

"Having remembered the previous case in Essex I decided to contact Advertising Standards this morning."

He added that the posters "infringe all the human rights legislation".

North Wales Police announced their scheme on Thursday, saying they would name a man banned from his village for terrorising its residents.

Richard Morris Lloyd, of Dwygyfylchi, near Conwy is currently serving a three-month prison sentence imposed by Prestatyn magistrates after breaching his order by returning to his home village.

He was named in court as " the neighbour from hell".

North Wales Police said it is up to an individual to challenge their poster campaign but they believe Mr Lloyd would not have a similar case as Gary Ellis.