A TEENAGER who became a virtual one-man crimewave has been locked up for 18 months.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named, faced 20 separate charges when he appeared before a judge at Oxford Crown Court.

Among them was a street robbery in which he and another youth punched and kicked a teenager to the ground and stole his wristwatch.

In another, he punched a young man in the face as he queued at Burger King on the Oxford Retail Park after telling him: "I do not like being stared at."

The youth also admitted two burglaries in Howard Street, Oxford, and Norfolk Close, Radley, stealing a pair of trainers from an Oxford sports shop and seven counts of taking motor vehicles without consent.

On one occasion he caused £8,000 damage to a Vauxhall Calibra car after going joyriding with a friend.

Jennifer Edwards, defending, said: "There is little more I can say in mitigation other than to point out his age and early guilty pleas."

Sentencing the youth to a total of 18 months' youth custody, Judge Tom Corrie said: "You have committed so many offences - some on bail and some during a supervision order - that everybody accepts reluctantly that there is no alternative but to give you a custodial sentence of some length."

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