A JOBLESS 23-year-old has admitted he was responsible for a campaign of tyre slashing in a market town.

Darryl Baker, of Greenhowsyke Lane, Northallerton, pleaded guilty to 23 charges of criminal damage at Northallerton Magistrates Court this morning.

The offences took place between September 2005 and January this year in the Ashlands area of Northallerton and in total left cars and vans with £3,600 of damage.

Baker was caught after police mounted a series of operations to find who was responsible.

A constable sitting in an unmarked car watched him as he crouched at the tyres of a Ford Mondeo parked on Ashlands Court at 12.30am on January 20. Two tyres on the car had been slashed.

Baker was found to be in possession of a folding knife and arrested.

Today Trevor Beddoe, prosecuting, described his actions as a "plague of criminal damage on vehicles in Northallerton".

John Nixon, for Baker, did not give full mitigation, but said he had already had a substantial restriction put on his liberty by being under a curfew since his arrest.

Magistrates adjourned the case for the Probation Service to prepare pre-sentence reports.

Chairman of the bench, Rita Twiss said: "Our intention here is that you should be punished for your offending and be rehabilitated so you can understand why these things have been happening in your life and find a way of stopping them from happening."

He will be sentenced on August 17.