MORE people have been caught on camera spraying graffiti on to the city’s buildings.

In a video, filmed by a passerby, two men can be seen spray painting tags in a street near London Road.

One shouts “no photos please mate” after spotting the cameraman, who wished to remain anonymous.

The Argus:

The footage comes after an appeal to catch a graffiti vandal in Dyke Road Park, Hove.

Brighton and Hove City Council recently announced a “war on graffiti” to tackle the “scourge” of the city.

It has promised to support the police with evidence to increase the amounts of fines or length of jail sentence once an offender has been identified.

Some graffiti artists are commissioned to create art but the city council is convinced this was not the case here.

A council spokesman said: “This video shows taggers are becoming more and more brazen in their attitude towards spraying their graffiti and tagging.

“They are happy to stand in broad daylight and carry out their criminal activity with a blatant ‘I don’t care’ arrogance

“We would urge anyone who knows this person or anyone else who is defacing our city to alert the council or Sussex Police with as much evidence as possible.”

Councils can issue fixed penalty notices for graffiti to the value of £75.

However charges under the Criminal Damage Act carry much harsher punishments.

If the value of criminal damage exceeds £5,000, the maximum penalty for those aged 18 or over is 10 years’ imprisonment.

Where the damage is less than £5,000, the maximum sentence is three months’ imprisonment or a fine of £2,500.

The spokesman added: “We support the police as much as possible in their investigations to catch taggers.

“This includes providing the police with reports of previous similar tags to ensure the appropriate prosecution takes place, as the more damage the tagger has caused, the more the fine or longer the jail sentence, depending on the judge’s ruling.”

At Dyke Road Park someone spraying the tag “Maso” was confronted by a furious passerby who filmed the incident on his phone.

The Argus:

In the video, the man approaches the vandal while he is spray painting on a park building.

When he realises he has been caught in the act, the tagger tries to hide his face and tells the cameraman to “f*** off”.

Police are working on identifying the man in that video and are urging whoever may have information to come forward.

Anyone who recognises the man in the video, or knows of any other incidents with the tag of “MASO” in that area, can report it online or call 101.

Have you caught Brighton taggers in the act? Email jody.doherty-cove@theargus.co.uk.