Two men who went on a graffiti spree causing more than £20,000 worth of damage to businesses in Croydon have been spared a prison sentence.

Instead Gregory Pires, 20, and Daniel McConnell, 20, both from Pimlico, who pleaded guilty to a combined total of eight counts of criminal damage at Croydon Magistrates' Court on June 24, were given community service orders.

Magistrates considered giving the men a prison sentence, but were told that at an earlier hearing, where the pair pleaded guilty, they had been informed they would not face prison.

McConnell, of Churchill Gardens, Pimlico, and Pires, from Ponsonby Place, Pimlico, were sentenced to 220 hours' community service, to be served concurrently, and ordered to pay £2,000 in compensation and £100 in court costs when they appeared before magistrates on Tuesday last week.

The court heard that after drinking in the Milan Bar, in High Street, Croydon, on August 24 last year the pair went on a graffiti spree causing more than £20,000 worth of damage after using a broken pint glass to carve tags on to the windows of shops and offices along George Street and Park Street.

They caused: l £5,432 of damage to the Nestle Building, Park Lane; l £1,882 of damage to Lambeth Building Society, Park Street; l £8,066 of damage to Lloyds TSB, Park Street; l £3,837 of damage to Turtles, Park Street; l £1,340 of damage to the Tramlink shop, George Street.

The pair's defence pointed out that they had shown remorse for their actions and accepted they had behaved irresponsibly.

Rakesh Bhasin, solicitor for McConnell, said: "Mr McConnell desperately regrets his behaviour and it is nothing he will do again. He had a bit to drink and did not realise the cost of the damage caused.

"It was a spur of the moment incident and he regrets his actions."

Dominque Burrell, in defence of Pires, said: "He Pires accepts that he did something incredibly stupid that night."