A TEENAGE graffiti artist who offered to clean up his own mess to avoid prosecution has been ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid community work.

Blackburn magistrates heard that James Bonnick, who daubed his 'tag' (stylised signature) on buildings throughout the town, was a graphic arts student at Blackburn College.

But Kevin Preston, defending, said his client's artistic temperament had manifested itself in quite the wrong way.

Bonnick, 18, of Logwood Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to three charges of criminal damage and asked for 22 similar offences to be taken into consideration. As well as community punishment he was ordered to pay £300 compensation.

Judith Balderson, prosecuting, said the compensation claims related to the Farthings pub, Rosewood Avenue, and a private residence which had been daubed with Bonnick's trademark 'Minki' tag. She said the council was responsible for cleaning all the other sites and they had kept the cost down to £5,000.

Mr Preston said Bonnick was very remorseful about what he had done and accepted that it stemmed from his artistic nature.

He added: "He was prepared to clean up the mess and the case was adjourned because my client, his father and some friends were anxious to do just that. Unfortunately that was not possible because of health and safety and public liability reasons."

Mr Preston said his client was very keen to put the matter behind him and move on.

After Bonnick's first court appearance, Coun Mohammed Khan, executive member for housing and neighbourhood services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "Since the Council's Thrash the Trash campaign started, incidents of graffiti in the borough have reduced dramatically.

"'Tagging' tends to be a localised problem rather than a borough-wide one. However, these are removed regularly by our graffiti contractor. We also work hard to identify the culprits."