Vandals in Ottery blasted for painting the town pink

Graffiti in Ottery (Image: Archant)

Parts of the town, including the £1million Coleridge Bridge and entrance wall by Sainsbury’s, have been defaced with unsightly pink scrawl in a fresh spate of graffiti.

The nearby disused factory is covered in ‘tags’ and the culprits have been inside the building - which is boarded-up and part of which is earmarked for demolition – leaving their mark all over the walls and even the roof.

It is believed the vandals are striking under the cover of darkness.

Mayor Glyn Dobson said: “It is just disgraceful, I do not know who is doing it.

Graffiti in Ottery (Image: Archant)

“I have been told it is all over the roof of the factory. How do they even get up there? It is dangerous. They must do it late at night.

“The feeling is that if you clean it off, then people won’t do it, but it does not happen that way in Ottery.”

Historian Peter Harris, of Sandhill Street, worked in the now redundant factory for 45 years, and still keeps an eye on the building. He discovered the graffiti this week and reported it to the town council.

Peter said: “They have been inside the factory and sprayed [graffiti] all over the place. How they get in, I do not know.

“It is left in a terrible mess.

“The factory is going to be knocked down anyway, but at the moment, people walking by will see it sprayed with graffiti everywhere and it looks so bad.”

The latest spate follows a vandalism spree late last year that sparked a row over which authority was responsible for cleaning up the mess, which also affected the footbridge and nearby fence.

A mystery volunteer, who lives in Ottery, eventually embarked on a cleaning mission to rid the area of much of the graffiti.