Graffiti vandal must pay back over £1,000

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Monday, December 19, during sentencing how Ricky Lee Tomlinson, 27, of Cauldon Drive, Holme Hall, Chesterfield, was found guilty of nine graffiti offences of criminal damage which included his tag “Blade”.

Prosecuting solicitor Bill Taylor told a previous hearing Tomlinson used a red-pink spray to leave graffiti on signs and walls across Unstone and Dronfield and the face of a horse and on the blanket of another horse at a paddock near Callywhite Lane.

Other targets during Tomlinson’s included a Derbyshire County Council chevron sign and grit bin, an Unstone Plant Centre sign, an Unstone Junior School wall, two doors at Unstone Service Station, three walls at DP Kelly Holdings Ltd, a sign and wheelie bin at Dronfield’s Royal Mail Delivery Office and a wall at Staves Estate Agent’s in Dronfield.

The court heard how police searched Tomlinson’s former flat at Hassop Close, Dronfield, and found his graffiti tag written on the inside of his door. Police confirmed witness accounts from people who claimed to have seen Tomlinson in the area during the night in question.

Tomlinson pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of criminal damage during a trial on December 12, three of which were dismissed, but he was found guilty on nine counts from October 24, 2015. The court heard how Tomlinson’s friend Ashley Ryan Cook, 22, of Derby Road, Chesterfield, had previously been dealt with by the court after he pleaded guilty to three counts of causing damage with graffiti at Unstone during a similar period.

Tomlinson was given a three-month custodial sentence suspended for 12 months with an eight week curfew. He was also ordered to pay £1,085 in compensation, £310 in costs and a £115 victim surcharge.