A teenage graffiti artist has been ordered to clean up Wanstead after he covered the area in a sea of spray paint and pen.

Police and traders are celebrating after 18-year-old Thomas Delves, was given an Asbo and 200 hours community service by Redbridge Magistrates, as punishment for blanketing Wanstead with hundreds of graffiti tags over the past year.

PC Lisa Hudson, who led the investigation to catch the former Wanstead High School sixthformer, said the area has experienced a massive drop in graffiti since he was arrested at his home in Blake Hall Crescent on Tuesday, May 29.

She said: "We have been working long and hard to catch this guy and it's been amazing to see how much impact it has made on the graffiti problem in Wanstead.

FROM PAGE 1 "He was responsible for the majority of tags in the area and caused misery for the people who had to clean up after him."

PC Hudson, of Snaresbrook Safer Neighbourhoods team, says the drop in graffiti is an indicator of the remarkable scale of the teenager's activities.

She said: "This individual was responsible for a very large proportion of the graffiti around here and we are very pleased to have put a stop to his criminal behaviour."

Sgt Kate O'Riordan, who gathered the intelligence which first linked Delves to his infamous Check' tag, praised PC Hudson for compiling the evidence needed to convict him."

She said: "Lisa was working long hours for several weeks, photographing every tag we found and compiling acres of paperwork to make sure this guy was properly punished."

Snaresbrook ward councillor, Sue Nolan, said she is pleased the teenager will be forced to clean up the mess he has helped to cause.

She said: "This will hopefully give him some idea of the inconvenience and anger he has caused for other people in this area."

Delves, who has been banned from carrying spray paint, grouting pens and marker pens in public anywhere in England or Wales until July 2009, was also fined more than £5,000 by the court on Friday, July 20.