AN arts graduate who caused £45,000 worth of damage by daubing trains with graffiti will spend Christmas behind bars.
Michael McDermott, from Meols, vandalised trains, carriages and freight wagons in a two-and-a-half year spree across four counties.
Jailing the 26-year-old for 10 months, Mr Justice Holroyd said McDermott displayed “an extraordinary degree of selfishness and self-indulgence”.
Merseyrail and Northern Rail trains were among 15 targeted between April 2008 and November 2010, as were historic carriages which had been lovingly restored by volunteers on two private railways in Yorkshire.
The court heard how McDermott became “embroiled in a culture of graffiti” while studying at Leeds university and enjoyed the “excitement” of spraying trains.
Mr Justice Holroyd told him: “Whatever artistic merit you may claim for your work, it was quite simply criminal damage.”
McDermott, who now lives in Bristol, was said by his defence council to be an “educated” and “sensitive” young man.
