A MAN has appeared in court accused of arming himself with a hammer and smashing dozens of windows at stores and shops in Accrington town centre.
Glen Bowers, 23, was detained by police at 4am last Friday after a trail of destruction had been left on Broadway.
He appeared before a special sitting of Blackburn magistrates on Saturday morning accused of two specimen charges of causing criminal damage.
The case against Bowers, of no fixed address, was then adjourned to a sitting of Hyndburn magistrates, when he was remanded in custody until later this month.
A total of 23 windows were smashed in the rampage and the cost will run into thousands of pounds.
Woolworth's and Marks and Spencer were among the victims, along with the Jack Fulton and Every-thing £1 shops and the British Heart Foundation charity shop.
Woolworth's will need to replace 14 of its 17 doors and windows and M and S had five windows smashed.
Each window of toughened glass had a hole the size of a £2 coin smashed into it and cracks running to the edges of the panes.
Inspector Phil Cottam said: "This incident was picked up on the town centre CCTV system and the operator contacted the police. We would like to give a reassurance to other traders in the town that this enabled officers to get to the scene very quickly and prevented any further damage being done to other premises.''
