Train vandal sentenced for £17,000 damage spree (from a couple of weeks ago)
A bored man who spent hours vandalising rail property was sentenced today for causing nearly £17,000 damage to trains and trams in south London and Surrey.
The graffiti vandal received an eight-month suspended sentence at Southwark Crown Court.
He was also handed a 12-month supervision order, a six-month curfew and five-year ASBO prohibiting him from possessing graffiti paraphernalia and from entering parts of the railway.
***** was arrested after BTP mounted an operation to target vandals who commit graffiti offences over the Christmas period when the rail industry comes to a halt.
He was arrested on Boxing Day 2007 and continued to commit offences in 2008, despite being on bail.
"Network Rail, Southern and London trams in Croydon suffered a combined total of £17,000 damage as a direct result of ***** criminal activity," PC Garden added.
Judge Christopher Hardy said vandalising trains and railway property was a very serious matter.
He said ***** was a persistent vandal with criminal offences dating back to 2002 "When [graffiti] is sprayed randomly on other people's property it’s simply vandalism." he said.
"And apart from lowering the tone of areas where it is found, particularly in regard to railway stock and public transport, causes very great inconvenience to the whole of the travelling public."
