Police sneak up to nab vandals

Youths with spray paint and a saw were caught red-handed vandalising play equipment in Bingham.

Police crept up on the group after being contacted by a member of the public who lives near the Orchard Close play area.

Three youths, aged 11 to 14, admitted criminal damage and, as first offenders, were issued with £40 fixed-penalty notices over the weekend.

Repairs are expected to cost Bingham council taxpayers about £700.

The parents of one of the boys have offered to make him help put the damage right and police hope the parents of the others will follow suit.

The Bingham beat officer, Pc John Kneale, said he and his colleagues saw the yobs tagging play equipment with their street names, and sawing through a roundabout.

Pc Kneale said: “The parents were horrified to learn what their children had done and were saying the children would have to pay the fixed-penalty notices from pocket money and savings.

“It’s disappointing as the children involved are so young, but they have shown remorse and hopefully this will be the wake up call they need.

“They had taken a can of black spray paint out with them and so were deliberately setting out to damage.

“Graffiti makes an area look run down and the police are looking to take action against anyone who commits these types of offences and ban them from playing fields.

“I would ask parents to ensure they know where their children are going and what they are doing. Some responsibility has to fall on parents.”

The assistant clerk to Bingham Town Council, Mrs Claire Pegg, said the repair bill was not a budgeted cost, so would have an impact on resources.

Mrs Pegg said the Orchard Close park did not have to be closed, but some of the apparatus was off-limits.

She said the £700-plus repair bill covered only the cost of repairs to the equipment and not the man-hours for removal of the graffiti. She said that the reparation offered by one of the boy’s parents was at least something.

Mrs Pegg said: “This is damage that we can ill-afford.

“It is disappointing that such young children have got involved with this degree of destruction.

“It doesn’t do anyone any good, least of all the youths who have set out with malice and purpose to commit damage and have now been involved with the police.

“It causes heartache to families and means that other children are deprived of the enjoyment of some of the play equipment. It is very, very sad.”

In an unrelated incident, different youths are thought to have been responsible for damage to the gate at the Wychwood Road play area at weekend.