A TEENAGE graffiti artist who daubed his name across Blackburn town centre has offered to clean up the mess in a bid to avoid prosecution.

James Alexander Bonnick is responsible for painting the word 'Minki' at dozens of sites between July and December.

He faces three charges of criminal damage and is believed to be responsible for at least 24 other incidents involving his 'tag' (stylised signature).

But he is now appealing to Blackburn with Darwen Council to let him scrub clean the affected walls in return to escaping with a police caution.

Bonnick, 18, of Logwood Street, Blackburn, was remanded on bail until January 18 when he appeared before the town's magistrates so his solicitor can make representations to council officials.

"He wants to clean up the mess," his solicitor Kevin Preston told the court.

"If it wasn't for the number of instances, there are three charges and a schedule containing 24 other offences, this young man, who has no previous convictions, would have been dealt with by way of a caution. The sticking point is the cost of removing the graffiti, which is in excess of £5,000."

Mr Preston said Bonnick's father Chris worked in housing and had some knowledge of the specialist cleaning procedure required.

"Regardless of how the case ends up it will be to my client's credit if he is allowed to clean up," said Mr Preston.

Wendy Chappell, prosecuting, said the indication was that a lot of the cleaning work had already been carried out by the council.

"There may also be health and safety implications of the defendant being allowed to clean the graffiti away," she added.

Bonnick and his parents, Chris and Diane, declined to comment at their home yesterday.

He was arrested just before Christmas and spent most of Christmas Eve being interviewed by detectives at Blackburn.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has a dedicated grafitti officer who arranges for removal of works of art and tags.

Coun Mohammed Khan, executive member for housing and neighbourhood services at the council, said: "Since the Council's Thrash the Trash campaign started, incidents of graffiti in the borough have reduced dramatically.

"'Tagging' tends to be a localised problem rather than a borough-wide one. However, these are removed regularly by our graffiti contractor. We also work hard to identify the culprits."