Newsline

Pair killed by Underground train

Two suspected vandals have been killed by a London Underground (LU) train in Barking, east London.
British Transport Police (BTP) said the pair, aged 19 and 21, were hit by a District Line train at Barking depot at 2306 GMT on Friday.Police said a group of men were seen spraying graffiti nearby moments before the crash, but stressed they were not being chased by security guards. A 23-year-old man was arrested near the scene on suspicion of criminal damage. A spokesman for London Ambulance Service said the pair were pronounced dead at the scene.

'Dangerous pastime'
Ch Supt Paul Crowther said that although a security guard spotted a group spraying graffiti, which may have spurred them to flee, they were "not being chased".

He said: "It appears that they ran into the path of the train having emerged from a nearby depot. The train driver did try to stop but was unable to do so."

Describing the incident as "tragic" he said it showed that spraying graffiti was a "dangerous pastime". A man who lives in a block of flats opposite the tracks where the incident happened said he saw the bodies from his kitchen window. John Leitch said: "I came out to my kitchen window and saw that there was a train there where normally there isn't one. "The train moved off and I could see that there were two bodies on the track. They looked like young men."

Increased security
He added that emergency services had to wait until the power on the lines was turned off to reach the bodies. They were moved from the tracks early on Saturday morning. A two-metre fence with barbed wire on it surrounds the Barking station, but Ch Supt Paul Crowther said he was not sure how the group entered the depot despite this. He added that increased security across stations in London ensured fewer incidents of vandalism. London Underground said services between East Ham and Dagenham on the District Line were suspended on Friday night following the incident but they were resumed at 0800 GMT on Saturday.

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Graffiti artist's Asbo sentence

A 20-year-old graffiti artist has been given an Anti-social Behaviour Order (Asbo) after causing £4,000 of damage.
Matthew Bunker, of Framfield, East Sussex, committed 13 offences of criminal damage in and around Uckfield. Bunker, known as Spider-Man because of his agility, was banned from carrying paints or marker pens in public. Sussex Police and prosecutors asked for him to be made the subject of an Asbo during a hearing at Lewes Magistrates' Court
on Wednesday.

Two-month spree
Insp Richard Allum said afterwards: "Matthew Bunker blighted the community with his handiwork around the town, at a time when many people are working very hard to make
it a more attractive place to live and work in. I'm hoping this will send out a message to others that this sort of behaviour is not acceptable."

Bunker caused the damage in a two-month spree which began in December.
His targets included a Tesco Express, the British Telecom building, Shell and Esso
petrol stations, a council depot and the former stately home Buckswood Grange.
Unemployed Bunker was caught after police saw his clothing on CCTV and then
found numerous spray cans, marker pens and graffiti designs hidden under his
younger brother's bed at his home in Sandy Lane.

British teenager faces jail in US for graffiti

A pupil at one of Britains leading public schools faces up to a year in prison after taking time out from his forms tour of New York art galleries to spray graffiti.

Henry Kingston 17, an A-level student at St Pauls School in West London, was stood bail by his father, John Kingston, Head of litigation at corporate law firm Travers Smith Braithwaite, who flew from Britain to take him home.

Henry as arrested under New York's zero tolerance laws and charged with reckless damage of public property after decorating a wall at a community school on Madison Avenue, East Harlem.

His next scheduled court appearence in New York falls during his easter holidays. He has already served a school suspension imposed by teachers at st pauls school, which charges day pupils fees in excess of £10,000 a year.

Henry's actions were defended by Joe Durnin, caretaker at the East Harlem school, who said 'The wall had already been vandalised, it was in a state, there was nothing wrong with him doing what he did. I will defend him court if I have to'.

New York Police department said: 'if found guilty he could face between one day and a year in prison'.

Councils chew over gum problems

It costs 3p a stick to buy, but 10p to prise off the pavements. And councils across Britain are getting sick of having to foot the bill for cleaning
it up.
Chewing gum dropped on Britain's streets has enraged councils so much that 20 of them have banded together to ask for financial help to get rid of the problem.

They say that on London's shopping thoroughfare Oxford Street alone, there are more than 300,000 pieces of chewing gum. Westminster Council spends more than £100,000 a year dealing with the problem.The councils took out a full-page advert in the Guardian newspaper pleading for "financial support for the enormous clean up bill" and "proper investment" for manufacturers to come up with a biodegradable gum.

"Enough excuses, give us promises that stick," the ad says. They are calling for 1p out of the price of a pack of gum to be set aside for cleaning up the millions of pieces "spat onto our streets each day".

'Feeble' approach
The advert came on the same day as the Chewing Gum Action Group, backed by the government, held a conference over the sticky problem.
But Leith Penny, Westminster Council's head of environment and leisure, says the councils' campaign is partly a response to the Chewing Gum Action Group's "feeble" approach.

"They've got a 'gum action group', which consists of government, representatives of local authorities, and the industry," Mr Penny told BBC Radio Five Live.
"They've come up with a new campaign which they've piloted in three local authorities around the country, and which is really concentrated on what strikes us as being a rather feeble public education campaign.

"So we would like to see a campaign that's genuinely hard-hitting, that stigmatises the activity; we'd like to see actual help to councils with the clean-up costs, paid for by the industry," he says.

A spokesman for Defra, which is part of the Chewing Gum Action Group, said a guide was about to be sent out to all local councils.

"So we would like to see a campaign that's genuinely hard-hitting, that stigmatises the activity; we'd like to see actual help to councils with the clean-up costs, paid for by the industry,"

It had been produced after three pilot campaigns during the summer to cut gum litter.
"These showed some very positive results - the campaign in Preston resulting in an 80% reduction in gum litter," he said.
"However, it must be remembered that such campaigns will not change attitudes overnight. These are the early stages, and we hope to see more progress made in a further round of a dozen or so campaigns this summer."

'Extremely expensive'
Westminster councillor Alan Bradley say the gum manufacturers - led by chewing gum giant Wrigley - should take more responsibility for cleaning up their product.
"It's extremely expensive and labour intensive to clear up," said Cllr Bradley.
He says some estimates put the clean-up bill for local authorities across Britain as high as £150m a year.

Wrigley, which produces 90% of the UK's gum, released a statement on Monday, defending its involvement in the Chewing Gum Action Group.
"Gum litter is caused by the irresponsible behaviour of a minority of chewers, who need to be educated to dispose of their litter properly," said Wrigley's communication manager Alex MacHutchon. "Consequently, we believe a fully integrated approach, encompassing education and the greater enforcement of fines, is required to tackle this issue in an effective and sustainable manner."

Councils involved in the campaign are: Belfast, Blackburn with Darwen, Bradford. Brighton and Hove, Cardiff, Crawley, East Herts, Edinburgh, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Leeds, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Oldham, Oxford, Slough, Stoke-on-Trent, Swindon and Westminster

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