The two teenagers who went on a graffiti-spraying splurge around Stone recently will not face criminal charges. Instead, the boys – aged 15 and 16 – will be made to do unpaid clean-up work in the community and to meet people whose property was vandalised.
An amazing community clean-up was organised by Kieran McKnight from Christ Church after walls, railway bridges and properties were daubed with graffiti in April. The two teenagers were arrested on 5th May after being caught in the act.
Chief Inspector Paul Trevor, Stafford Borough Local Policing Team Commander, told the Staffordshire Newsletter: “After a detailed investigation it has been determined the best course of action to address such behaviour is for those involved to work alongside our partners in the Youth Offending Team.”
He said this would include clean-up work and contact with victims, as well as the possibility of compensation to be paid by the boys’ parents. The Chief Inspector added: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly and it has been based on the individual circumstances of this case and the evidence put to us.”
Click here to read more from the Newsletter. Click on the ‘graffiti’ tag below to see all the stories and pictures of the graffiti and the clean-up on A Little Bit of Stone.
8 comments
Nick
“reaction” not “retain”!
Nick
I think my initial retain is the same as Jeff.
Having given up nearly 2 days of my own time, driving nearly 100 miles to borrow and return a pressure washer and donating a small sum towards the cleaning materials it does look like they have got off lightly.
I helped to clean up as I was appalled by the damage they had caused and if left it would have been added to. I have lived in Stone for nearly 10 years and my children had to walk past this mess on their way to school. They are 5 and 9 and asked why would somebody do such a thing and along with their classmates were genuinely upset by it.
There is still the graffiti on the A34 bridge, the canal bridge near Whitebridge and possibly the small amount on the electrical substation opposite The Star.
So my question is will they clean up all of the remaining graffiti?
Or will they not be allowed to go near the bridge on the A34 as someone will say it represents a health & safety risk crossing the dual carriageway?
Who is funding the materials they they will need to do the work? I do hope it there parents and not us Tax payers!
Rant over but as Jeff said they have one chance to put right their so called art.
ian
3 weeks on from your message and the graffiti is still on the canal bridge near Whitebridge, the railway bridge over the canal near the station and the A34 road bridge. Leaving this in place will do little but encourage more.
I wonder if this means that the pressure to clean up is now off and they will get away with it? Can anyone enlighten us?
Jill Hood
Hello Nick, as has been well documented Stone will be judged on July 19th for the Heart of England in Bloom competition and on August 9th for the first time in the history of the campaign will be judged by the Britain in Bloom judges as we’re through to the national finals. A group of us from Stone in Bloom joined in the cleaning off of the mess these two little boys had sprayed, but there have been some areas we couldn’t get to. Mr Kidd from Mountfords drove by on cleaning day and stopped and asked us to go to his shop where he donated wire brushes, a gallon of paint remover, a bucket and soft brushes We also paid for paint remover ourselves.I’m told the police have all the cleaning materials and the brushes. I ask that as Stone in Bloom are cleaning, brushing, weeding and painting the street furniture,we would be happy to supervise the two without any fuss to clean the remainder of the mess they’ve left behind.Our town is beautiful and we’re all proud of it lets keep it that way.
Jeff
My immediate reaction to this is ‘they have got off lightly, no punishment and they will do it again…once again British justice is failing us. After all the people in Stone they have upset with their disgraceful lack of respect for others they get away with it.’
Taking a deep breath i think about this again…im assuming they have to put some hours of work in and they have to face those people they have upset…as well as hopefully realising that they have caused their parents to be fined….
The key here isnt the punishment…its whether these individuals give a flying toss what their community think of them and how angry they are. If they care and are truly sorry and work hard to show that apology then this decision was the right one…BUT…if they dont care about how upset you are that your town is sprayed with their immature little scrawls for notoriety with other immature little individuals then as far as im concerned the justice system hasnt made a difference and it only strengthens the feelling of anger within the community.
To these lads this message from me:
you have one chance to prove your not going to be an idiot for the rest of your life, admit what youve done, be sorry for what youve done, work hard at putting it right, accept peoples anger towards you because you deserve it and GROW UP!
Caz
I’m with you Jeff – well said.
Little Bit of Stone
Fantastic comment Jeff – thanks very much for posting. You make some brilliant posts. Over on Facebook there’s a lot of anger that they haven’t been charged – and a lot of people calling for the pair to be named and shamed…
Little Bit of Stone
Sorry Jeff, I meant fantastic ‘points’, not posts! Thanks again for commenting