A vandal who scrawled graffiti on some of York’s most historic landmarks has been jailed for the second time.But this is no spotty teenage yoof in a hoodie; this is a 31 year old man, albeit one with ‘issues’:
They included a cross with Blythe’s initials inside and the words “crucified martyr” “patch” and “monsoon” on York Crown Court; “blythdon” “decraved, depraved” “mind farmed” “robbed” and “it’s my life” among others on Clifford’s Tower; and “google blythdon bent cops” on the Statue of Constantine, outside York Minster.Hmmm….
Blythe’s solicitor Andrew Craven said Blythe acted as he did because he held a particular “view”.And those views are..?
He said: “It is not, obviously, a mainstream viewpoint, but it is deeply held by him. He believes sincerely he is doing this for the benefit of what can only be described as society in general.”
Last August, Nicholas Darwin, representing Blythe said his client was convinced cancer was the result of babies receiving brain implants.Ah.
Blythe denies that he has mental health issues, but the district judge heard York mental health team were concerned he had not been assessed on a psychiatric basis before being interviewed by police earlier this year.I can save them the time. He’s clearly a loon. Why doesn’t he just get a blog or Twitter account, like everyone else?
And what good is locking him up going to do? Other than take up a place that could be used by someone who has committed a violent crime? Far better to force him to remove his daubings, surely?
It is indeed a waste of money to jail this nutter. I'd like to see him obliged to clean up his own mess instead, instead of it being done at ridiculous expense by the authorities.
ReplyDeleteI think we well may find that cleaning this graffiti off such old stonework is a specialist task, necessitating the use of hazardous materials ..
ReplyDeleteSo, H & S legislation would prevent him from using them ..
They need to make their minds up .. is he mad or or is he bad ?
If he's mad, then section him ..
If he's bad, then lock him up, just as people were calling for when students committed similar acts of criminal damage in London quite recently ..
Why does every skate in Britain today have "issues" ?
As I was once told by an old, 3 badge Marine storeman .. "Issues are the opposite of Stores ..Issues are for issuing & Stores are for storing" ..
If you google " blythdon bent cops"
ReplyDeletethen two out of the top three references come back here, with the number one being the original story.
Silver lining: your stats.
Sectioning him would also be expensive, and ineffective.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to imagine him chained in front of his handiwork, suitably guarded against violence, with a supply of rotten fruit nearby.
He might learn something from the experience.
He could certainly be obliged to clean up the fruit mess afterwards. No hazardous materials or scaffolding involced there.
The stocks...
ReplyDeleteThinking about it, we could do the same with councillors and planning officials?
And if these deeply held beliefs mean he refuses to dothe the clean up....what...force him? Accusations of brutality on a 'mentally ill' man?
ReplyDeleteHe has to be dealt with as a criminal, he has to know there are consequences, jail being one if it comes to it. After psychiatric intervention first of all.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteYou want to force him into jail, to avoid brutality? Are you serious?
"client was convinced cancer was the result of babies receiving brain implants."
ReplyDeleteSounds perfectly reasonable to me. Probably as much science behind it as for the other claims of cancer-causes like SHS. Hell, compared to the 3rd hand smoking nonsense it's positively sane.
Anyways...
If he sprayed historic monuments with 'Smoking Kills Little Babies' then he'd be celebrated as a H E R O in the Daily Xenophobe.
There are two things which graffitists don't like. One is being caught, the second is having to remove their hard work. For those of us arranging the latter it's much more enjoyable if we get them to use cleanup materials which we know very well won't remove what they're scrubbing at. Keeps them busy and us entertained for hours.
ReplyDeleteShould his defence lawyer also be subjected to pyschiatric assessment for saying such bilge as
ReplyDeleteBlythe did not give evidence and Mr Craven urged the district judge to declare him not guilty on the grounds the prosecution had not proved its case against him.
????????????????????????
"I think we well may find that cleaning this graffiti off such old stonework is a specialist task, necessitating the use of hazardous materials .."
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be at all surprised. But as The Jannie points out, no reason not to have fun watching them try! :)
"Silver lining: your stats."
:D
Using words such as nutter and loon but I bet you would use a racist term to call someone with a different skin colour.
ReplyDelete