A graffiti vandal who daubed public buildings, including a magistrates court, with spray paint has been found guilty of criminal damage.

Kevin Mason, 30, who lives in Devonshire Place, Brighton, was convicted of 19 charges of damaging buildings in the Kemp Town district of the city between January 1 and December 12, 2004, after a two-day trial at Worthing Magistrates Court.

Mason was originally charged with 28 counts but five were withdrawn and not guilty verdicts were returned on the other four. He will be sentenced on Tuesday and an application for an antisocial behaviour order will be made by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mason had pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage before the start of the trial.

Jane Heybroek, prosecuting, said that at 3.50am on November 25, 2004, the defendant had been arrested on the junction of St James's Street and Cavendish Street, Brighton, when he was caught spraying the word "fugi" on a wall by a member of the public who made a citizens' arrest and called the police.

Mrs Heybroek told the court that drawings in Mason's home with the tag word "fugi" had matched graffiti found nearby.

During the early hours of November 25, Mason was found with three spray cans in his jacket and black paint on his right hand, the court heard.

He told police he did not know why he had the cans as they had not been in his jacket when he had left home and he could not explain the paint on his hand.

He said he had spray cans at home which he used to paint canvases. A search of Mason's lounge and bedroom found seven pieces of paper with drawings of the "fugi" tag. One of the tags matched graffiti on the side of the Candy Bar in St James's Street.

Jeanette Mason, of High Street, Brighton, called the police after she was woken by a hissing noise at 2.40am on November 25 and saw a man with collar-length hair, dressed in dark clothes, spraying graffiti on to a wall opposite her home.

But Richard Elliott, defending, said that the "fugi" tag had been put up on buildings as a mark of respect to Mason, who is well known among Brighton's graffiti artists for photographing their work.

The name "fugi" had been given by graffiti artists to world-famous graffiti photographer Henry Chalfont.