CARLISLE: Magistrates fined a man who deliberately knocked over a 10-litre tub of paint and wrecked a trailer load of plasterboards at a Travis Perkins store in Wigton.

Robert Marcus Wilson, 55, denied losing his temper or damaging any goods during a trial at Carlisle Magistrates' Court last week.

But magistrates ruled he was guilty of criminal damage regarding the paint spill and also decided he had deliberately damaged 15 sheets of plasterboard during the incident in February.

Mr Wilson was fined £50, with £250 prosecution costs, and ordered to pay Travis Perkins £355 compensation. Magistrates also fined him £150 with £85 costs and a £15 surcharge for a motoring offence.

Mr Wilson has nine previous convictions for 26 separate crimes, including two criminal damage offences.

The court saw CCTV footage taken at the Travis Perkins store with images of how Mr Wilson threw the plasterboard from the back of his trailer in the yard when he was asked to pay for the paint he had spilled.

Mr Wilson told the court he was waiting for a liver transplant. "The doctor increased my medication and it has made it difficult for me to walk in a straight line," he said. Magistrates watched the CCTV footage and told Mr Wilson that his version of events was not credible.