A "full of bravado" gang of graffiti vandals behaved as "idiots" after trains and engines were sprayed with "tag" names. Images of the colourful graffiti were shown in court as five men were sentenced for causing criminal damage on Thursday (March 2).
Judge Mark Watson told the defendants - three from Nottinghamshire - these were "acts of rebellion" and amounted to "acts of showing off" by each of them. Carriages and engines were tagged with initials across the East and West Midlands, hitting the network as a whole, and leading to vandalised trains being taken out of service and cleaned up, costing thousands of pounds.
In many cases, the offenders trespassed on to the railway - not only putting themselves in danger but others who might try and stop them - and left the operators with the inconvenience of removing rail stock from service. The acts of criminal damage involved a high degree of planning and premeditation - using the cover of darkess and clothing to avoid detection - sometimes across live railway lines to stationary engines.
Items recovered during the investigation included paint canisters, gloves with paint on them, Hi Vis vests, as well as footage of the "tag" name - which is usually a stylized personal signature.
Judge Watson told the five men: "At the time each of you behaved, to put it bluntly, as idiots. You were selfish, you were thinking only of the kudos you may obtain by doing this. You were young men full of bravado. None of those features make you bad people.
"You were young and, with youth, came maturity five years on. Each of you has grown up.
"Had I thought differently, I would not have hesitated to send you immediately to prison. I think the appropriate punishment for each is to give back to the community by doing unpaid work - but I hope it will involve you cleaning up areas in your local community - there would seem some poetic justice if that were to be the case".
All defendants received a 12-month community order, with compensation orders and unpaid work.
Defendant Ryan Markin, 25, of Long Lane, Attenborough, pleaded guilty to four criminal damage charges and asked for two more offences to be taken into consideration. The total damage he caused was between £15,000 and £18,000.
Trey Smith, 27, of Birkdale Close, Nuneaton, admitted two charges of criminal damage and asked for one more to be taken into consideration. The damage was between £6,800 and £7,300 in his case - and he expressed regret for what he did.
Chris Price, 32, of Troutbeck Crescent, Bramcote, admitted four charges of criminal damage and asked for 12 more to be taken into consideration. The damage inflicted was much more in his case - between £40,000 and £46,000. Co-accused Dylan Lowe, 23, admitted three charges, and the damage in his case was between £7,500 and £9,000.
Joel Docherty, 23, of Henley Court, Gainsborough, was sentenced on one charge, and the damage was between £2,500 and £3,000.
The court heard Alex Crow, the manager of West Midlands Trains, had made a statement describing the dramatic impact of taking a train out of service, the loss of revenue and fines by the Department of Transport (train operating companies are responsible for any delays and are required to pay fines to Network Rail).
He estimated the loss of cleaning the paintwork in such cases to be estimated to be £300,000 between 2018 and 2019. The crime and services manager for East Midlands Trains, who was not named in court, made a statement referring to 22 incidents which would have cost more than £66,000 - a big amount attributed to withdrawing a carriage or taking another train out of service for cleaning.
Train carriages were sprayed with graffiti in Beeston, Coventry, Boston Train Station, Lincolnshire, Hull, Worcester, Derby Etches Park, Chad curve siding, Coalville, in Stapleford at the Toton depot, Leicester, Birkenhead, with some of the protagonists recording their handiwork through video and photos.
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