In the Media

DVD graffiti artist receives suspended jail term

PUBLISHED September 26, 2006
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A 22-year-old graffiti vandal who starred in a video showing him spraying his "tag" on to trains was yesterday given a one-year suspended jail sentence and 140 hours' community service.

Christopher Thomas, of Manchester, is featured in a section of a hip-hop DVD glamorising graffiti, which is available at HMV, Manchester's Crown Square Court heard.

Police found the DVD when they raided his house in Rusholme, along with 50 cans of spray paint, marker pens, and sketchbooks containing graffiti ideas. The ?14.99 film, bits of which were played in court, showed Thomas branding a London Tube train and Ilkley railway station, in Yorkshire, with his grafitti signature, ''Pors" or ''Porsh".

Other members of his graffiti gang, who refer to themselves as the "42 crew", joined in the damage. Thomas, who recently completed a design and visual arts degree at Stockport College, pleaded guilty in August to 12 counts of criminal damage amounting to over ?14,000, and possession of ?10 worth of cannabis.
 

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