Coventry postman daubed racist graffiti on RM posters

[clashcityrocker]

A POSTMAN who daubed racist graffiti over posters in Royal Mail’s old Bishop Street sorting office in Coventry was caught after handwriting experts were called in.

Darren Swain, of Bruce Road, Radford, Coventry, described himself as “the scarlet pimpernel of the post office” on two of the five vandalised posters put up in toilets.

He even bragged “you will never catch me” on one of the posters – ironically entitled Dealing with Harassment Through Graffiti.

But two of the posters featured racist slurs and Royal Mail investigators quickly installed covert cameras and started monitoring the area.


Eventually they identified Swain, 45, as the culprit and sent the vandalised posters and other examples of his handwriting to experts.

They confirmed that the writing was the same and Royal Mail chose to prosecute Swain, who had worked at Bishop Street for 21 years.

Yesterday at Coventry Magistrates Court Swain was sentenced to 200 hours unpaid work.

He had previously pleaded not guilty to four counts of criminal damage and two counts of racially aggravated criminal damage.

After a trial he was found guilty of three counts of criminal damage and two counts of racially aggravated criminal damage.

The posters were put up in June and July of last year in the building’s first floor toilets – two floors away from where Swain worked on the centre’s night shift.

The sorting office closed in November last year and the majority of the graffiti deals with the consequences of the closure, with Swain blaming Royal Mail for ruining his life.

On one poster he goes on to threaten legal action, signing the poster off “see you in court”.

Before he was due to leave the office he wrote “three weeks to steal as much as possible and send as many letters to the wrong place as possible”.

Two of the posters contained racist statements – with one bizarrely describing Andy Murray as a “useless Jock”.

Defending Swain, Andris Skudra, said: “He has had this hanging over him for some considerable time.

“When he was dismissed he lost a great deal financially. He was due to receive £5,000.

“He lives alone at the moment and through this process he has been looking after his father who is suffering from stomach cancer.

“My client does not receive benefits. He has recently sold his house.

“This is a very sad case. He has an impeccable record and is of impeccable character.”

John Dove, prosecuting, asked for Swain to pay £4,360 in costs, Magistrates reduced that to £3,000 but he was ordered to pay it in 29 days.

Norman Wainwright, chairman of the bench, said: “We have had particular regard for the racially aggravated elements of this case.

“We have decided that it is serious enough for us to impose a community sentence.”


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[pinstripe]

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[fishtank]

The Daily Mail...racism...the irony...

[Lounge Lizard]

“This is a very sad case. He has an impeccable record and is of impeccable character.”

[DGP1]

Two of the posters contained racist statements – with one bizarrely describing Andy Murray as a “useless Jock”.

How is that a racist statement?? It really demeans the whole concept when people try to push stupid things through as racist