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A man daubed 'Islam' on a war memorial days after murder of Lee Rigby during a £50,000 vandalism spree.

Andrew Patterson, 31, daubed the word in red paint on the RAF Bomber Command War Memorial in Green Park on May 27 last year, just days after the country was shocked by the brutal killing of Fusilier Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard that, on the same day, Patterson wrote the same word on the Animals in War Memorial in Hyde Park, which honours animals that have served and died for the British military forces.

Tensions were heightened after the young soldier's murder, and on the day Patterson wrote the graffiti there was a march by the English Defence League.

A week earlier, between May 17 and 20, he caused £11,550 damage to the Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner when he stole the memorial's Rising Sun plaque.

The court heard that Patterson vandalised the memorials as part of a much larger spree which caused a total of £56,909 damage.

Between May 11 2012 and June 22 2013, Patterson carried out 94 offences of criminal damage across the City of Westminster, from slashing car tyres to graffiti and smashing windows, repeatedly targeting homes and, on three occasions, Westbourne Park Baptist Church.

The damage to the RAF Bomber Command War Memorial alone was £6,500, while that to the Animals in War Memorial was estimated at £2,766.

The 94 offences were brought together into 15 charges, to which Patterson's solicitor, Dan O'Callaghan, indicated guilty pleas on his behalf.

District Judge John Zani committed the case to Southwark Crown Court for sentencing, on a date yet to be decided, and ordered that psychiatric reports should be prepared.

Patterson, from Westminster, was bailed on condition that he resides at the West London Mental Health Trust in Southall, where he has been living.