A 42-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a spate of criminal damage in which vehicles, road signs and bus shelters have been spray painted with graffiti tags.
At around 21:45 last night (Sunday), Police received reports that a man was spraying graffiti on vehicles in the Ryde area.
Officers attended and soon located a suspect on The Strand, near to Simeon Street Recreation Ground.
As well as suspected of being the graffiti ‘artist’, the 42-year-old man was found to be in possession of suspected stolen antiques, believed to have been taken from a shop in Ryde High Street.
The man was arrested on suspicion of burglary, possession of a knife in a public place and resisting arrest.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary says that the middle-aged man was also arrested on suspicion of criminal damage – relating to the graffiti in Ryde and a recent series of incidents across the Island involving roadside furniture being spray painted.
As previously reported by Island Echo, a clean-up operation got underway earlier this month after a number of tags – depicting a 5-pointed star with the number 4 written inside it alongside ’22 crew’- appeared on dozens of pieces of street furniture on Wootton High Street, Racecourse and Fairlee Road.
This week the same tags have been seen on street furniture and vehicles in Ryde, around the St John’s and Monkton areas.
Police say the 42-year-old remains in custody at this time.
