A CALNE fifteen year old who smashed the window of a hardware shop after drinking all evening with friends, has been ordered to pay more than £800 compensation by magistrates.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had had an argument with a friend outside Dentons in Park Lane on July 9 and punched the shop window out of frustration, the court was told.

He appeared with his mother at Chippenham Magistrates Court on Tuesday when he admitted criminal damage.

Alex Daymond, defending, said he must have hit the plate glass window with some force to break it. He also cut his hand, causing it to bleed.

A member of the public saw the offence and followed the boy who was later arrested by police.

It was the second time in a month the same shop window had been broken.

The shop owner asked for £850 compensation to pay for the damage but the court calculated the cost as £822.50.

The boy had no previous convictions and he fully admitted the offence when he was interviewed by police, said Mr Daymond.

"I know I should not have done it," said the boy.

Magistrates sentenced the boy to a six-month referral order and ordered his mother to pay the £822.50 compensation at the rate of £7 a week. They did not order her to pay the prosecution costs. The boy's mother was urged by magistrates to make sure her son paid the money back to her once he was able to.