A GRAFFITI sprayer who defaces walls and vehicles wholesale has been warned he faces at least 10 months in jail if he sprays another “tag” in the next two years.

James Christopher Cowton, 38, has already served a prison sentence for risking his life to deface trains and buildings at York Railway Station.

Gareth Henderson-Moore, prosecuting at York Crown Court, said Cowton carried out a “campaign of graffiti around Scarborough” by spraying his “tag” or graffiti signature on a children’s nursery, a care home, charities’ walls, a bus and a shopping centre among other targets last summer.

Cowton’s sentencing was delayed because he broke a knee.

His barrister Allan Armbrister said: “Apparently he was being chased by the police, I understand it was for criminal damage.” But, said the lawyer, the chase did not lead to charges.

Cowton, formerly of Fifth Avenue, Tang Hall, and more recently of Scarborough, pleaded guilty to 42 charges of criminal damage.

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told him: “Last summer you were an absolute menace in the whole of Scarborough, daubing your tag wherever you saw fit and causing immeasurable damage.”

“It cost Scarborough Borough Council more than £5,000 to clean up the mess you made because of your deluded mental state, helped by the sheer volume of drugs you have pumped inside your body.

Had he been sentenced last year, Cowton would have gone straight to prison, but he had since changed his lifestyle, said the judge.

Cowton was given a 10-month prison sentence suspended for two years with a six-month nightly curfew from 8am to 8pm.

The judge warned him if he sprayed a graffiti tag in the two years, he would probably have to serve the 10-month sentence, plus a sentence for the new offence.

Mr Armbrister read out a letter from Cowton’s mother describing how he was clean of drugs and was devoting himself to his new flat after being on a housing waiting list for two years.

The judge saw references from drug rehabilitation and other agencies outlining Cowton’s success in staying off drugs.