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Vandal escapes prison after 10-month graffiti campaign on railways
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent28 Jan 2009
A graffiti vandal who defaced trains, trams and railway buildings in south London and Surrey was today given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and an Asbo to prevent him carrying spray cans.
Unemployed Sean Kinsella, 22, inflicted £17,000 damage in a 10-month spray paint campaign between May 2007 and last March. He was targeted by British Transport Police in an operation over Christmas when the rail network is closed down.
Today at Southwark crown court, Kinsella, of Sanderstead, Surrey, pleaded guilty to seven charges of criminal damage - at Streatham Hill depot, Coombe Way Tram depot, Norwood Junction station, East Croydon station, South Croydon station, Fairfield Road bridge and Selhurst rail depot.
Pc Ian Garden, of BTP's graffiti unit, said Kinsella was responsible for spraying the tag DREAR on trains, trams and other rail property in Croydon, Streatham and Norwood Junction. He was also linked to the tag KC which stands for Kaos Crew.
Pc Garden said: "Kinsella was prolific in the Croydon area, regularly engaging in night-time tagging operations. Not only did he break into depots and sidings to commit his crimes but he risked his life by trespassing on rail property to get into carriages to deface property."
Kinsella was arrested on Boxing Day in 2007 but continued his graffiti campaign into last year while on bail. PcGarden added: "Network Rail, Southern and London trams in Croydon suffered a total of £17,000 damage. If you add to that the costs of removing the offending paint, the damage is substantial."
Sentencing Kinsella - who has convictions for graffiti dating back to 2001 - Judge Christopher Hardy said: "It seems like it was the form of an addiction to spray cans on other people's property."
The judge also imposed a 12-month supervision order, a six-month curfew between midnight and 6am and an Asbo preventing him going on any part of the railways not open to the public.
Reader views (14)
Taggers and so called graffiti artists are the scum of the earth.What the hell have they accomplished nothing but to show off to a handful of mates and a few other tagging retards.Most people who have a life that walk past this scrawl ignore it.As for calling it addictive and a murky underground world get a grip and get a life it's vandalism purely and simply.
- Dave, London uk, 07/03/2009 21:27
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How can people moan that graffiti is effecting them,there has been no physical harm caused and if half the people actually looked at it they might find something they like. People are forgetting this graffiti doesn't make your train late its budget cutting problems that are. Graffiti don't stop you getting from A to B in the same amount of time as a clean train, it don't just stop the train from working. Its just people like to moan, and then they say our taxes are goin to clean this stuff up, but it normally ends up in some sub-contractors pocket. Stop moaning about it and our money can go to better use. Like making trains run on time or maybe making sure the trains and tracks are safe and that we don't have any more de-railments. Scrubbing a tag of a train because it don't look pretty is a joke.Just because someone never paid to put it there like a multi-billion corporation could do with a advert, they get angry. All the rail bosses care about, is there money. They even have the cheek to raise ticket prices while they spend money on cleaning tags. I think they should put it to better use. Also were are using police resources on chasing down kids with spray cans when they can be chasing down the killers, get my point.
And maybe save the jails spaces for the...drug dealers,murders,paedophiles,rapists etc not the TAGGERS.
- Alex, east london, 30/01/2009 14:03
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Its so easy for the general public to moan about the lienancy of the sentence and consequnces of commiting vandalisim in general. You have no general or even basic understanding of what graffiti is or what the culture is about. Without graffiti you'd have so many more kids out commiting more serious and dangerous crimes to the general public, believe me it saves lives. If you dont like it, look the other way and get over it, you CANNOT stop it!
- Bill Oddie, London, 29/01/2009 22:47
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Banned from carrying spray paint but no mention of custom-made pens, acid baths or engraving tools! I'm glad the Judge acknowledged just how addictive this practice is, though ... Once you've immersed yourself in this murky, underground world, it's difficult to walk away.
- Skoobs (Vrs), London Town, England, 29/01/2009 13:52
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It's outrageous that these people can wreck property which has to be cleaned a great expense with impunity. The graffiti is ugly and depressing for all of us. What a waste of time and money. And life. These people are sometimes killed on the tracks. Shame.
- Iain, London, 29/01/2009 10:11
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£17,000, PLUS the cost of removing the paint seems unproportionate. What are the rail companies claiming the £17,000 for? Less police time, resources and punishments appear to be handed out to sex offenders, violent offenders and knife carriers.
This has been reflected recently in October 2008 in the south-east, where 4 youths were sentenced to a total of over 6 YEARS for graffiti related vandalism. Two of the youths in question were only 16 years of age when the crimes took place. It seems that the BTP delayed the case until the youths turned 18 so excessive punishments could be issued.
At least in the above case, the judge appears to have handed out a much more sensible punishment. Community service (graffiti removal), ASBOs, fines and curfews should deter vandals. Prison sentences should be reserved for the people we really need taken off our streets.
- John, Kent, 28/01/2009 23:17
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What a pathtic sentence! Where do these good-for-nothing judges live? Cloud Cuckoo land?
- Thomas, London, 28/01/2009 22:05
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And who pays the £17,000 for repairing the damage? We do via the fares we pay for travel.
A suitable punishment for this "artist" would have been to make him remove £17,000 worth of graffiti and pay for the cost of the chemicals used to remove it. He can pay for these out of the money he would have spent on spray paint or marker pens
- Andrew, London, 28/01/2009 21:34
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The fellow may well have problems or be an artist, but surely the "punishment" should be to assist, if not to complete, the removal of the grafitti.
Strangely even at 60 I can understand the sense of pride in tagging...sorry Londoners. I bet he could be employed for "real" train graffiti...mmm, maybe no fun
- Caliwag, york, 28/01/2009 21:14
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"Stupid is as stupid does".
- Jackie, surrey, 28/01/2009 16:50
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there is now no such thing in law and order anymore !
- Joe Sardena, Swanley Kent, 28/01/2009 16:36
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What a sad loser. But when it comes to his punishment in court - the writing was on the wall
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 28/01/2009 16:11
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The judge is right about one thing, graffiti is an addiction and very hard for people to give up once they are deep into it.
Most graffiti writers in London will be in and out of prison and wont stop at all.
He has been banned from carrying spray cans but he is allowed to use custom made market pens that are extremely hard to remove.
- London Kings, Lomdon, 28/01/2009 15:59
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another example of judicial stupidity - an ASBO for carrying a spraycan......nothing about a paintbrush then, or maybe a paintroller.....? Yes, this is really going to frighten this guy into stopping isn't it!! Pathetic, and once agains shows how out of touch and incompetant our Judges are.
- Gary, amersham, 28/01/2009 15:17
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