THE vandal behind graffiti tags Lies and ONS has admitted causing almost £20,000 worth of damage in the town.

Alex Smith, 20, of Cornflower Road, Haydon Wick, admitted daubing close to 200 spray paint tags on walls, electricity substations and railway property between January 2005 and March 2007.

Smith pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal damage at Swindon Magistrates' Court yesterday and asked the court to take into consideration three further graffiti offences.

Smith admitted causing £17,310 of damage to walls and telegraph poles belonging to Swindon Council, £1,521 worth of damage to Network Rail property and £372 worth of damage to substations belonging to Scottish and Southern Electricity.

Jo Marchant, prosecuting, said: "Any illegal wall the defendant could find to draw on, he has drawn on, with little regard to the property owners.

"He admitted fully in interviews to owning spray paints and admitted responsibility for graffiti.

"He said Lies was a word he picked from the dictionary and ONS was the name of a crew.

"He told police the last time he had sprayed graffiti on a wall without permission was about a month ago near the Oasis Leisure Centre."

Ms Marchant said Smith had caused serious repeated destruction of property and should be sent to Swindon Crown Court for sentencing.

Gordon Hotson, defending, said: "He has been fully cooperative with the authorities, voluntarily going to the police station when he became aware the police wanted to speak to him.

"He made a full and frank admission in interview and identified what graffiti he had done. He is not a violent offender, not an offender that needs to be locked up for public safety. He is a young man who needs to be punished, but that would be perfectly acceptable within the community.

"Clearly prisons are full and places should be reserved for those committing violent offences."

Mr Hotson said Smith would not be able to repay all of the compensation as he is unemployed and lives with his parents, but he said he had already been saving up money from his benefits to repay one of the victims of his vandalism.

Magistrates could not decide whether Smith should be sentenced at crown court, where he could be ordered to pay the full £20,310 compensation and sent to jail.

He was ordered to face magistrates again on July 10, once a report on Smith has been prepared by the probation service.