THIS photo shows the extraordinary lengths a graffiti vandal took to avoid his face being shown in the Echo after he narrowly avoided a jail sentence at Exeter Crown Court.

Dean Buckley, a former Exeter University student, donned a bizarre Groucho Marx disguise, including glasses and a fake moustache, before he left the court.

He put it on as an Echo photographer waited outside to snap him.

The 23-year-old was yesterday given a year's community order for causing thousands of pounds of damage to trains in the city.

He was also sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid work in the community, and ordered to pay £1,800 compensation, having pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage.

The Echo has previously reported how British Transport Police caught Buckley red-handed, spraying a train at the city's Riverside yard, near St David's railway station.

He had repeatedly broken into the yard with his graffiti crew.

Buckley, who now lives in Claremont Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, had pleaded guilty to six offences of causing criminal damage, including targeting First Great Western and South West Trains vehicles and the wall of the Clifton Inn pub in Newtown. All the offences were committed in 2006 and 2007.

Buckley, who had a previous conviction for criminal damage involving graffiti, was an Exeter University student at the time but has now graduated.

His spree caused £7,500-£8,000 damage. He was caught red-handed in April 2007 with an accomplice, who has since been convicted.

Transport police had launched a late-night sting as part of Operation Silverback, its crackdown on graffiti.

Buckley used the graffiti name Aynes and his crew often left their group signature Jawn on designs. Most of his crimes were at the city yard.

The court was told yesterday that police discovered spray paint and similar items at Buckley's city home. The address was not given in court. These included a portfolio of photographs showing the chain of events of graffiti expeditions, including images of preparing a design, spraying it and the finished work.

Defence counsel David Charles said Buckley had a degree including graphic design and the criminal record could affect his job chances.

Recorder Michael Cullum said the vandalism cost rail firms money, forcing up ticket fares and taking trains out of service to be resprayed.

He told Buckley: "For the purpose of the law it is damage, not art, whatever your perception of it and however talented a graphic designer you might be."

British Transport Police say graffiti vandals put their lives at risk by targeting potentially dangerous railway yards.