BOOZY youngsters who deliberately come to Weymouth to cause trouble will be punished.

That was the message from Inspector Pete Meteau after more drunken yobs were dealt with for running amok in the town.

A total of 13 young men – including Dorchester Town footballer Jake Smeeton – were hauled before Dorchester Crown Court yesterday for fighting in the streets. And four drunken youths caught scrawling graffiti in the Park District were marched back by police to clean it up.

Inspector Meteau, section commander for Weymouth and Portland, said: “These alcohol-related incidents are exactly the type of crimes we are proactively targeting.

“The recent campaign reiterates how we are trying to continue a year-on-year reduction in these alcohol-related incidents.

“Statistics indicate the most likely group of people to be arrested are males between 18 and 25.

“It is this group in particular we are asking to consider the consequences of drinking too much.

“If you deliberately choose to come to Weymouth for trouble, we will take action.”

The latest examples of Weymouth police’s crackdown on booze-fuelled bad behaviour were hailed by local people.

Town Centre Management Group member George Afedakis said: “This latest initiative is great because all this drunken behaviour is terrible for the area.

“The last thing we want is for people coming into Weymouth at night to see fighting in the streets.

“When people see officers on patrol they’re not so quick to damage windows and start brawls – it’s a very good deterrent.”

Kim Newstead, manager of The Swan in St Thomas Street and secretary of the town’s Pubwatch scheme, said: “People have to be responsible for their actions. Hopefully this will make them think twice.

“This campaign has only just started but they’re also re-launching Weymouth’s Drink Safe, Street Safe campaign, which is great.

“The public have got to realise they must behave in the pub as they would in the bank or post office.”

Mrs Newstead said Pubwatch members meet with police weekly to discuss issues in Weymouth.

“I don’t think people are quite aware of what we do,” she added. “We do an awful lot to try and eradicate trouble.”

FOUR boozed-up youths caught scrawling graffiti in Weymouth made amends for the bad behaviour by cleaning it up.

The men were arrested after they were spotted daubing offensive graffiti on a building in the Park District in the early hours.

They admitted the damage and returned to the crime scene the following day to remove the ugly mess they had made.

It was the latest example of Weymouth police’s new crackdown on alcohol-related yobbery in the town.

Inspector Pete Meteau, section commander for Weymouth and Portland, said: “We will not tolerate alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour.

“When it happens, it affects the quality of our residents. Therefore it is unacceptable.”

Police were called to the corner of William Street and Victoria Street after members of the public spotted the drunken youths.

Four men – aged between 18 and 20 – were detained by officers on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

They were accompanied back to the scene by two Police Community Support Officers to clean up their graffiti.

The youths – two from Weymouth, two from Portland – were each given conditional cautions.

They were also each ordered to pay £27.50 costs towards repainting the wall they scrawled on early on February 17.

Inspector Meteau said the incident proved boozy troublemakers in Weymouth were ‘unlikely to get away with it’.

“I’d like to remind all young people that by drinking to excess, they not only make themselves more vulnerable to becoming a victim of crime but also to committing a crime,” he said.

“This was a first-time offence for the youngsters involved. Hopefully, this course of action has meant they have faced up to the damage they did.

“I’m confident they will think twice about their actions when drunk in the future.”

Inspector Meteau said further examples of ‘restorative justice’ – people making amends – could follow as part of the new crackdown.