THE phantom car slasher will feature in a TV series called Bizarre Crime.

Ashley Carpenter damaged 1,700 tyres in a 10-day war on motorists during Christmas 2003.

He started his rampage after nearly being knocked off his bike twice and being splashed with puddle water by a passing car.

The Boscombe resident was captured after a massive police operation to review CCTV footage.

His case will feature at 10.30pm on the February 27 edition of the new series Bizarre Crime on BBC3.

Carpenter, then living in Walpole Road, attacked 700 cars between December 12-22, causing £250,000 worth of damage with a sharpened screwdriver.

He was identified from CCTV images printed in the Daily Echo and jailed for 16 months in 2004.

The court was told a remorseful Carpenter had been suffering from stress and depression.

Recorder Stephen Lennard said it was “an astonishing and extraordinary campaign”.

Carpenter later apologised to his victims through an exclusive Echo interview.

He said: “I just thought: Why not target the whole town to make it look like a ghost town for a whole day? That was my only intention. I didn't want to endanger anyone and thought the tyres would deflate immediately.”

Mr Carpenter, 37, said he only realised the enormity of what he had done when the Echo revealed motorists had driven on the motorway before their tyres deflated.

“The whole thing got out of proportion,” he said. “It was wrong and it was shameful to go out at night and sabotage car tyres. I am so sorry.”

The makers of Bizarre Crime said it is a light hearted show to celebrate incompetent and daft criminals getting their comeuppance.

Other stories include drunken Irishmen who stole a trawler to get home from Anglesey, and a burglar who got stuck naked in a chimney.