ANYONE who has had their car window smashed by vandals or thieves is well aware of the intense anger and frustration such mindless acts cause.

Apart from the fact that it costs a substantial amount to have the window replaced, with some insurance excesses costing up to £100, the sheer inconvenience is incredibly aggravating.

But the knowledge that some toerags have damaged your car simply for their own brainless delight rubs salt into the wound.

So it gives us no pleasure at all to report on the case of two young men who went on a campaign of destruction, hurling "decorative stone" at streetloads of cars as they drove by, totting up a total of 78 vehicles which had broken windows, paintwork damage or both, costing more than £10,000 in total.

In our view these two miscreants should have been given a sentence stiff enough to shock them out of their criminal tendencies and frighten them into avoiding such conduct in future.

Instead, one of them, aged 23, has been given a mere 250 hours community service and ordered to pay £1,340 compensation. The other, an 18-year-old, was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institution. This may seem harsh to some until you add the fact that he also pleaded guilty to 24 other offences, including robbery, burglary and theft.

His lawyer blamed his catalogue of crimes on boredom caused by his inability to get a job due to his dyslexia.

It's enough to make you weep!