A MAN has to pay thousands of pounds in compensation for causing damage to 11 different business in Weymouth and Dorchester.

Christopher Barnes, 25, appeared at Weymouth Magistrates Court.

Barnes, of Hope Close, Crossways, pleaded guilty to nine counts of criminal damage to the shop windows of nine businesses on South Street in Dorchester on October 31 last year.

The businesses included Robert Dyas, Jojo Mama Bebe, Procook, WH Smith, Specsavers, Amplifon, Wise Owl Toy Shop, Central Stores and the Spar.

He had previously pleaded guilty to three additional counts of criminal damage in Weymouth in which he had damaged the windows of Enzo and King Edwards Fish and Chips, as well as six panes of glass in a Victorian seafront shelter less than two weeks later, on November 11 last year.

As reported, Thomas Cottier Quayle Hircock, aged 25, of Douglas Road, Weymouth, appeared in court and pleaded guilty to the same nine counts of criminal damage in Dorchester as Barnes.

During Hircock's hearing, Ben Worthington, prosecuting, described the incident in Dorchester last October as a 'two-man crime wave'.

He said that Hircock and Barnes went on 'a rampage' and 'put in' windows at a number of shops in Dorchester.

It was heard that the men used a traffic cone to smash a number of the shop windows on South Street.

Chair of the bench, Sandra Wayman, adjourned Hircock's case until June 9 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

Barnes however was sentenced for all 12 counts of criminal damage and must pay a total of £6,193.31 in compensation for the damage caused.

He was also give an 18-month community order whereby he must undertake Rehabilitation Requirement Days, 200 hours of unpaid work, and must abide by an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for 90 days.