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Woman who was caught on CCTV keying the paintwork of a £46,000 BMW is ordered to pay owners for the damage

Hazel Innes, 44, scratched the side of three vehicles while walking her dog
The bizarre crime spree was captured by a neighbour's CCTV camera
Innes has admitted to vandalism but said she can't explain why she did it
She has been ordered to pay the owners for the damage done to their cars

Published: 13:07 GMT, 19 May 2016 | Updated: 13:29 GMT, 19 May 2016

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Caught on camera: Hazel Innes, 44, admitted to keying three cars while walking her dog

A middle-aged woman who was caught on CCTV keying neighbours' cars has been ordered to pay owners the cost of the damage.

Hazel Innes, 44, scratched the side of three vehicles while walking her dog in her hometown of Buckie, on the Moray coast, in January.

The bizarre crime spree was captured on a security camera outside the home of Shona Coull. Ms Coull posted the 23-second clip of her white BMW X3 being vandalised on Facebook in the hope that someone would recognise the culprit.

The footage, which was viewed more than 500,000 times, shows Innes casually walking along a residential street with her pug, shortly after 6pm.

After stopping to check the road was clear, Innes is seen taking a sharp object out of her pocket and running it along the length of Ms Coull's car. A BMW X3 Sport can cost as much as £46,000.

Innes admitted to vandalising the BMW and two other cars at Elgin Sheriff Court last month.

Today fiscal depute Alison Wylie told the court Innes had caused £2,845 of damage to the three vehicles.

She said: 'The cars had been parked reasonably close to each other. On the date in question, the cars had been left and everything seemed fine.

'At some point on the 24th of January, it was discovered that other vehicles were damaged elsewhere.

'Word on that got back to witnesses in this particular area and some people went out and started looking at their cars and saw scratches along their vehicles.

'One of the witnesses has a CCTV system.'

The court heard that as well as 'keying' Ms Coull's car, Innes also vandalised a Nissan Qashqai and a Honda CR-V parked on a nearby road.

All three cars were parked within a few minutes' walk from Innes' home.

Innes initially told police she had been in the area but denied the offence.

Defence lawyer David Adam said: 'She certainly admits now that she must have done it. She can give no explanation for why she did it.

Posted on Facebook: The 23-second CCTV clip showing Innes keying the side of Ms Coull's BMW X3

'She bears no grudges to any of the people, the owner of the cars.'

Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov deferred sentence on Innes to be of good behaviour until August. She said Innes would have to pay back all damage costs by her next court appearance.

Speaking after the hearing, Ms Coull said she still did not understand why Innes had targeted her car.

She said: 'I do know of her but I don’t know her personally. I’m happy if I get my money back. Hopefully she can go and sell her car and pay us all back.'

She said she had decided to install the CCTV because there had been vandalism in the area last year. 'Fingers crossed there will be no more trouble,' she added.