One of Britain's most prolific graffiti vandals, who sprayed his tags across the borough, has been jailed.

Daniel Halpin, 24, from Camden, was arrested along with five others after a British Transport Police (BTP) operation identified tags up and down the country, including one at a funeral home.

Halpin was sent to prison for 27 months at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, July 15, after he was earlier found guilty of seven counts of criminal damage.

One of the other vandals, 24-year-old Nicholas Rowley from Clapham, was jailed for a year after admitting six counts of criminal damage.

According to BTP, Halpin - responsible for the infamous Tox tag - sprayed graffiti on buses in Brixton, and on rail property in Southfields. He also struck in Wandsworth and Battersea during a spree which began in 2000.

Authorities estimate the total amount of damage was in excess of £200,000. At his trial Halpin denied 13 counts of criminal damage. He was convicted of seven but cleared of six.

Sentencing Halpin, Judge Clarke said: "There has to be a deterrent aspect. These offences have gone on, in your own admission, since the year 2000. You have been using TOX for a decade. Therefore I am sentencing you accordingly.

"Although you and others regard yourselves as artistic, there is nothing artistic about what you do."

Detective Constable Will Livings, the investigating officer, said: "The costs of graffiti are substantial for the railway industry in terms of repairs and clean-up, and can leave permanent scars on the infrastructure.

"The financial costs have to be borne by someone, and that someone is ultimately the fare-paying passenger.

"Trains are taken out of service for cleaning, sometimes for days at a time, causing disruption and delays for passengers."