Police are searching for a suspected vandal after a spate of ‘mindless graffiti’ caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to Chester’s heritage sites.
Over the past few months railways, houses, buildings and historic landmarks between Chester and Ellesmere Port have been ‘tagged’ with graffiti.
Now police have released an image of a man, wanted in connection with the crimes, after furious residents complained that the tag, which reads ‘Daka’ or ‘Jaka’, had been painted on doors and walls along the historic Rows.
The CCTV image, which shows a man in his 20s allegedly scrawling the graffiti on the historic landmark, appeared on the Inner Chester Neighbourhood Policing Team’s twitter feed on Thursday, September 5.
Police believe that the vandal, who is seen allegedly graffiting the wall before urinating on the Rows, could be using trains to travel from Ellesmere Port to Chester, as the tag has been appearing on railways and landmarks close to the stations.
“We have had graffiti appearing across the city in the past with people leaving tags, but this most recent offence is destroying some of the history of the city,” said PC Steve Hannam, who said police had recieved dozens of calls from residents, the council and community leaders about the graffiti.
“Some of them have been cleaned up but it will be expensive to get the marks off the historic sites, these tags can cause several thousands of pounds worth of damage once they have been done.”
Police are now appealing for members of the public to help trace the man in relation to the offences, and are asking anyone who may recognise the individual in the picture to contact the police on 101.
“Someone knows this person, we need them to let us know who they are so that we can deal with them,” said PC Hannam.
