Teenager sentenced for graffiti damage (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Teenager sentenced for graffiti damage

10:19am Tuesday 24th June 2008 in

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A HYDE teenager, who caused thousands of pounds of graffiti damage to Winchester city centre, has been handed an Asbo and told not to carry spray paint in the city for two years.

Eldon Griffiths-James, who pleaded guilty to six charges of causing criminal damage, was sentenced at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court on Friday (June 20).

The 19-year-old, of Nuns Road, admitted going on a drunken graffiti rampage across the city on Friday, May 2 and the early hours of Saturday, May 3.

His tag, the word NEMEW, was found daubed in white emulsion paint at various locations, including River Park Leisure Centre, on a Nissan Micra car parked in Gladstone Street and in St George's Street. Some of the tags were in four feet by six feet lettering.

Winchester City Council is still calculating the cost of removing the graffiti, which took around two weeks to scrub off, but expects the damage to amount to thousands of pounds.

Robert Simpson, mitigating, said that the teen, who has a drinking problem, decided to paint the graffiti after drinking 14 cans of lager and taking cocaine. He added that Griffiths-James, a gardener, admitted he got a buzz from his actions, but felt guilty the next morning when he was sober.

Officers searched his home the next day and found his clothing covered in white paint and the word NEMEW', which is his Internet user name and e-mail address, on his computer.

In his initial police interview he said that his friends had done it and that he had just held the paint but when confronted with CCTV footage of the crime, admitted that it was him.

Griffiths-James, who also asked magistrates to take into account a further 36 matters of criminal damage, was given a 12-month community order for the graffiti and also for breaking the terms of a conditional discharge he was on at the time for being abusive to a train guard.

As part of the order, he must carry out 80 hours of unpaid work, be under supervision for six months and receive treatment for his alcohol problem for six months. He was also ordered to pay £43 costs but magistrates decided not to make him pay compensation.

His Asbo will last for two years and during that time he must not carry spray paint, spray cans or brushes in public in Winchester and must not spray, write or put graffiti on any property in Winchester, unless he has the expressed permission of the owner.

Winchester City Council's head of environment, Robert Heathcock, said: "This act of vandalism cost several thousand pounds to clear up and we are delighted that the court appears to have recognised the seriousness of the offence.

"We hope that he will perform community work which is appropriate to his crime, such as clearing away any graffiti around the district. The court's punishment, particularly its decision to issue an ASBO, will hopefully act as a deterrent to him in future.

"We want this case to send out a strong warning that Winchester City Council will not hesitate to take strong action against vandals."