AN electrician whose life was made a misery by car vandals decided to exact his revenge by wiring his vehicle to the mains.

Peter Bayles snapped after months of non-stop attacks on his cars parked outside his home in Eldon, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

The electrician parked his blue P-reg Ford Mondeo and wired it up to the mains.

Although he installed a circuit-breaker to deliver a short, sharp jolt, Teesside Crown Court heard how the consequences for a child or someone with a heart condition could have been much worse.

The court was told how Mr Bayles had been plagued by vandals who caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage. During a two-month spree they:

* Smashed the windscreens of his cars.

* Kicked in the headlights.

* Ripped off the bumpers.

* Stole the number plates.

The damage was so bad that Mr Bayles went through four cars, and each one was wrecked.

Eventually, the fed-up 28-year-old resorted to electrifying his £1,800 Mondeo between 10pm and 6am while it stood at the rear of his terraced house.

But a neighbour who saw the cable tipped off police and he was arrested.

Although police said every driver who has had their car vandalised would probably sympathise, Mr Bayles was charged with booby-trapping the engine with intent to destroy human life or to inflict grievous bodily harm.

Tom Mitchell, in mitigation, said: "He has done something that anybody who has ever had a car vandalised or broken into would dream of doing.

"The difference is that he made the dream a reality, and what he has done is wrong. If you wire up your car to the mains, somebody is going to get a jolt.

"If it had been somebody with a weak heart or a child, he might find himself looking down the barrel of a much more serious charge."

Peter Sabiston, prosecuting, said police called in an expert to examine the trap.

They decided the vandals were more likely to be harmed from falling over than the shock.

Bayles, who is going through a divorce, said the last attack on his car was only three days before he wired it up.

But Judge Tony Briggs said: "Those who electrify their car so that members of the public might accidentally come into contact with it risk losing their liberty.

"But in the peculiar circumstances of this matter, it seems just possible not to send you away for this."

Speaking outside court, Bayles said: "I knew what I was doing, so I made sure I used a circuit breaker.

"The vandals made my life a misery. I had to keep changing my car because they left it unroadworthy."

Bayles, of New Row, Eldon, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, was ordered by the court to carry out 80 hours of community punishment and 12 months of community rehabilitation. He pleaded guilty to attempted actual bodily harm on December 13.

The Crown Prosecution Service accepted his not guilty pleas to intent to destroy human life and an alternative charge of attempted grievous bodily harm.