Spray paint vandals walk free from court
Gang caused over £40k of damage to structures
A GRAFFITI gang who caused more than £40,000 of damage to the Tyneside railway system and bridges have walked free from court.
Christopher Orton and Glenn Mattinson were the main players in a plot to daub tags across the transport network in a competition with a rival group.
A court heard train and Metro carriages, stations and the High Level Bridge were among the places targeted in dozens of spray paint attacks spanning months.
A painstaking investigation by British Transport Police and Northumbria Police eventually identified Orton and Mattinson as the chief culprits, while Darryl Craig was proven to have carried out one of the attacks.
Orton was linked to 28 separate instances of graffiti on the railway network while Mattinson was proven to be directly involved on 30 occasions.
Some of the graffiti ran the full length of train carriages and some of it was done to the interior of carriages, a court heard.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the total cost to remedy the damage caused was £40,593 – including more than £15,000 on the High Level Bridge alone.
Now Orton, 23, and Mattinson, 24, have both been given suspended prison sentences for conspiracy to cause criminal damage while Craig got a community order for criminal damage.
Prosecutor Liam O’Brien told the