THE owners of 28 vehicles damaged in a spate of vandalism in Harpenden earlier this year are to be paid a total of £5,500 by the culprit. Paul Caputo, aged 27, of Lyndhurst Close in the town, pleaded guilty to offences of criminal damage when he appeared

THE owners of 28 vehicles damaged in a spate of vandalism in Harpenden earlier this year are to be paid a total of £5,500 by the culprit.

Paul Caputo, aged 27, of Lyndhurst Close in the town, pleaded guilty to offences of criminal damage when he appeared before St Albans Magistrates last week.

He was given an eight-week sentence, suspended for 12 months, and has been ordered to pay £250 in compensation to each of the 22 victims. He will also have to pay costs of £87 and carry out 200 hours of community service.

Caputo damaged 28 vehicles parked in Station Road and Lyndhurst Drive on the evening of Friday, August 15. He was traced following appeals in the media and a leaflet distributed in the area featuring CCTV images which showed his movements prior to the incident taking place.

Sgt Lewis Ducket of the Harpenden Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "This result represents the hard work from the officers of my team who worked tirelessly to trace this man whose needless behaviour caused much unnecessary inconvenience for many people in Harpenden.

"We treat criminal damage extremely seriously and will work with our partners and residents to combat it and trace those responsible.