A serial window smasher destroyed £6,000-worth of glass at a Bucks police station so he could go back to prison.

On Monday, Aylesbury Crown Court heard the “sad tale” of Stuart Brown, who was caught smashing 17 windows with a hammer at Aylesbury Police Station the same day he was released from prison.

The court heard that Brown, who has no fixed abode, only committed the offence so that he could return to jail.

He was sentenced to 10 months by the judge, Bal Dhaliwal, after pleading guilty to a charge of criminal damage.

The court heard how on December 8, Brown was caught outside the police station with a hammer in his waistband, having just destroyed 17 windows worth £6,350 in total.

Brown had just been released from prison the same day, for a similar charge of smashing windows at a leisure centre.

When asked by officers why he had the hammer, Brown replied “because I’m doing damage.”

Defence lawyer Matthew Nash told the court that Brown committed the offence “to return himself to custody.”

Mr Nash said: “He’s never had a job, he’s never had accommodation, he doesn’t have any family to look after him.

“What does he do? I’m not trying to suggest that was the right thing to do but he has nowhere to go.

“He believes, wrongly, that the best place for him is prison, so he goes to the police station and causes the damage.”

Sentencing, judge Dhaliwal was unsympathetic to the defence’s case.

She said: “It’s a sad story, but that is the reality of it.

“You had been released from custody earlier that day and somehow you managed to get a hammer.

“The more you do this the longer the sentence will become.”

As well as receiving 10 months in prison, Brown was also ordered to pay £2,000 compensation.