Court day for Spalding man charged with graffiti offence

A man charged with a graffiti offence will appear in court later tomorrow.

Nigel Burrows, 39, will face magistrates on December 13.

Mr Burrows was originally arrested on September 4 on suspicion of graffiti offences in Spalding and Peterborough, alleged to have taken place between January 12 and May 1 this year.

However, he will now face a single charge as there was insufficient evidence to pursue any offences in the town, Lincolnshire Police have confirmed.

A Cambridgeshire Police statement said: “Nigel Burrows, aged 39, of The Meadows, Spalding, has been charged with one count of criminal damage and has his first hearing in relation to the case (will be) at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on December 13.”

This week it was revealed that graffiti artists have been caught in the act by CCTV in Spalding but are avoiding prosecution because they can’t be identified.

Spraying and tagging have been unsightly problems across Spalding for a number of years, with members of the public often questioning why culprits are not being caught by the town’s 82 cameras.

At Tuesday’s Town Forum, Coun Gary Taylor, South Holland District Council’s portfolio holder for community development, revealed that people monitoring CCTV ‘followed’ the vandals, but have been unable to identify them.

“The main problem with gathering evidence is the faces, if a face is covered by a hat or hoodie” he said after panel members raised questions regarding the quality of the town’s cameras.

“If the face is revealed then, yeah, they are very technical cameras.

“Those that are doing wrong do make the effort to cover themselves up in disguise, which is what we’ve seen lately with the graffiti.

“They’ve been followed but they are in disguise or covered up, so it’s difficult to identify people.”