A 15-YEAR-OLD boy will have to pay £200 compensation after admitting to taking part in a tyre-slashing spree.The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was before magistrates at Ipswich yesterdaycharged with five counts of criminal damage and nine of aiding and abetting criminal damage.

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy will have to pay £200 compensation after admitting to taking part in a tyre-slashing spree.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was before magistrates at Ipswich yesterdaycharged with five counts of criminal damage and nine of aiding and abetting criminal damage.

He pleaded guilty to all 14 charges, which relate to a tyre-slashing spree with a female adult neighbour in the Shotley area on the night of July 11 last year.

In total, the pair are thought to have caused £1,323.98 worth of damage to 14 vehicles.

Proceedings were brought after the female contacted police to say what had happened that night and although she was cautioned she did not have to pay any compensation.

The boy admitted causing £521.42 worth of damage to a Fiat Multipla, Ford Capri, Ford van, Peugeot and Toyota but said that he was only present when other tyres were slashed and that this damage was caused by the female.

He has previously been before the court in relation to charges regarding damage to a primary school, damage to a bus, assaulting a juvenile, wasting police time and harassing a neighbour.

Nigel Inniss, defending, said although the teenager was currently under an Action Plan Order for the previous offences the current charges predated the order and that there had been no evidence of re-offending since it had been made.

The youth added he was “very sorry” for the trouble that he had caused and that the Action Plan Order had been helpful in making him think before offending again.

Chairman of the bench, magistrate Victoria Sears, said: “For the offences committed in July you are to receive a Reparation Order of 24 hours to comply with the seriousness of the offences.

“If you had done this while on the Action Plan Order the punishment would have been much more severe and different. But because the offences predate the order it is a different story.

“This doesn't mean that you are free to continue this sort of behaviour. There is no need to think that you have got off lightly.

“We have decided to split the compensation up so that you only pay for those matters to which you have pleaded guilty for criminal damage. Because we only have estimates for four vehicles you will pay £50 for each one - totalling £200. You will not have to pay compensation for the others.”

The magistrate's refused to issue a Criminal Anti- Social Behaviour Order (CRASBO) against the defendant, believing that it was inappropriate because no other orders had been breached.

Reparation Orders require the young person to repair the harm caused by their offence either directly to the victim or indirectly to the community.