A homeless man who went on an early morning rampage of damage in Wrexham town centre on St David's Day was jailed for a total of 42 weeks.

A court heard on Friday how Paul James Foulkes walked around the streets kicking at windows of shops of business premises which was described as a cry for help.

The value of the damage was estimated to be more than £10,000.

Magistrates told Foulkes that the offences were serious.

High value damage had been caused in a very public area in Wrexham town centre.

It would have caused considerable distress to members of the public who witnessed it and also to the businesses affected.

He was on bail at the time, his actions put him in breach of his criminal behaviour order and they also took into his account his previous convictions.

Foulkes, 34, who had been staying at the Ty Nos night shelter, admitted 14 charges of criminal damage at an earlier hearing - while on bail for causing damage to his own flat at the time.

The town centre damage all happened in the early morning of Friday, March 1 in Queen Street, Duke Street and Hope Street.

Justin Espie, prosecuting, said that the defendant was already on bail for causing £700 worth of criminal damage to his council owned flat.

The previous hearing was told that his behaviour amounted to some sort of cry for help.

The court heard how that Friday morning, at about 5am, he kicked windows at The Talbot public house, Gerrards Bakery, The Queen's Square Salon, Just Cuts, Superdrug, Bon Marche, The Santander Bank, That's Entertainment, Beresford Adams, Vision Express, The Enterprise Hub, Hayes Travel and The Chinese Buffet.

Mr Espie said that said that of those who had submitted compensation claims, the damage amounted to £9,000.

But there were five others who had not submitted claims.

Magistrates said that in view of the custodial sentence they would not award compensation to the businesses - but awarded £140 to Wrexham County Borough Council for the damage to the flat.

Mr Espie said that police received reports of him damaging his own flat and when officers attended they found three broken windows and the defendant told them that he had "lost his head."

Foulkes, formerly of West Circle in Wrexham, had been seen on CCTV committing some of the damage in the town centre.

"Officers checked and found that 14 shops and other premises had been damaged," he said.

In one case the damage was valued at £3,000 and others put forward claims of £1,000 and £600.

Defending solicitor Laura Preston-Hayes said that her client suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and when he was on his medication he was an amenable and polite young man.

He engaged well but when he did not take his medication "things like this tend to happen."

It was quite a sad situation, she said.

He was medicated at present and he was a polite, intelligent gentleman who had unfortunately found himself living on the streets.

Miss Preston-Hayes said: "He has been trying desperately over to years to get assistance and get off the streets."

But he had episodes when he was not taking his medication, caused damage to his accommodation and found himself back on the streets again.

"The reason he committed the shop damage offences was that he felt that he had been let down by the authorities and the professionals.

"He is trying to get help and he is not receiving it. He believes everyone is washing his hands of him because he has committed damage.

"There is probably some truth in that," she said.

It may be that some professionals were losing their patience with him and did not want to help him any more.

But she stressed that he had a diagnosed medical condition which led to his offending.

Her client had held his hands up, was embarrassed by what he had done and was very remorseful.

Miss Preston-Hayes urged the court to draw back from an immediate prison sentence.

He had been released from custody last November but again found himself before the court.

She said what he required was assistance to to stop his cycle of offending.

"Coming before the court every few months is not helping anyone," she said.

A suspended sentence would act as a deterrent while he received support in the community.