Vandal jailed for racist campaign
Friday, July 25, 2008 
Police hope the the amount of graffiti in Hanworth will drop dramatically
following the conviction of a racist vandal. Robert Whitehouse admitted
scrawling offensive graffiti all over Hanworth and was jailed for two months on
July 11 at Feltham Magistrates Court after being caught in the act on May 2
spray painting an anti-Islamic message.
Sgt Darren Weston, who leads
Hanworth Park Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT), said: "We've had an ongoing
problem with racist graffiti but this was the most intensive campaign we've
seen."
Whitehouse, 42, of Almond Close, Feltham, pleaded guilty to
charges of committing racially and religiously-aggravated criminal damage and
going equipped to charge criminal damage and saw his sentence cut from 12 to
eight weeks in light of his guilty plea. .
"We were driving around
looking for the person responsible," said arresting officer PC Adam
Pearson-Smith. "It had been going on for about four months and we kept missing
him by a little bit so we were delighted to finally catch him."
When the
officers stopped Whitehouse and demanded he turn out his pockets they found a
spray can and stickers referring to the far-right British National
Party.
Sgt Weston added: "Graffiti is a high-priority issue for our
residents who have told us it gives a poor impression of the area and makes them
feel unsafe. We hope they'll be as pleased as we are."