International graffiti vandal who caused damage to trains on Wirral sentenced

Jul 17 2010 by Tom Bristow, Liverpool Echo

AN INTERNATIONAL graffiti vandal who caused almost £7,000-worth of damage on a 13-month spraying spree was sentenced.

Grzegorz Ratowski, 26, unleashed his spray can on trains across Merseyside before finally being caught in a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation.

Sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court last Monday, he received a six-month suspended sentence, a 200-hour community order and made to pay £750 compensation.

Ratowski had earlier pleaded guilty to four graffiti offences committed in Birkenhead and New Brighton between April, 2008, and May, 2009.

Officers also seized images of Ratowski posing next to graffiti-damaged trains in Slovakia, Austria, France and Italy.

An investigation into Ratowski’s activities began after police caught him using a marker pen to deface gates in Back Bold Street, Liverpool, in May last year. PC Tony McGibbon, the investigating officer, said: “A search of Ratowski’s house uncovered sketch designs on numerous pieces of paper and notebooks of the tags ‘Lock’, ‘Rock’ and ‘INS’.

“We also seized a CD showing Ratowski carrying out graffiti and posing next to damaged trains in Bratislava, Vienna, Lille, Rome and Naples on various dates between 2006 and 2008.

“Ratowski also had text messages relating to graffiti on his mobile phone while analysis of his phone use placed him in each area when trains were damaged.”