By Jo Wadsworth
After a months-long investigation, a Brighton vandal who was known for his prolific graffiti has been given a warning.
John McMillan – alias Johnny Crew – is one of the two vandals that Brighton and Hove City Council gathered intelligence about in a joint investigation with Sussex Police. This was reported in a committee report.
The Sussex Police confirmed this week that while the investigation into the RUGZ tag was still ongoing, the conditional warning had been issued to the second suspect and he has now agreed to assist the graffiti removal team of the local council.
The council announced that it would be pushing to prosecute full cases in 2019 after another tagger received a warning, which led to an uproar.
The assistant environment director Rachel Chasseud is still on the job and told residents that the warning was disappointing. She said she’d be speaking to Sussex Police.
Now anti-tagging campaigners are repeating the warnings they made in previous years, calling them “disappointing.”
McMillan told Brighton and Hove News that he would begin the first session of his three-part training to help the council’s graffiti removal team Monday.
He replied: “I won’t be doing it anymore.” Because I’d seen people do it, I thought it wasn’t a huge deal. I did it to spread awareness and share my story.
But I’d tell the young taggers to stop and find another way to vent their frustrations.
He told me he had just received his SIA license (Security Industry Authority), and hoped that he could start working as a guard.
Businesses and Residents Against Tagging spokesperson said that it was disheartening for a blatant vandal to cause thousands of pounds of damage on council property and heritage and community building, and to even destroy artist murals.
His Crew and Crew Connection tags were vanity ads to promote his Blog. Tags stopped when he took a vacation from the city. Tags have been summarized since he returned. He claims that his “fans” are responsible for the tags.
Residents and Brighton and Hove Council taxpayers are now responsible for the cost of damage. This is a very inappropriate outcome.
Brighton and Hove News questioned the council about whether it thought a warning was still a disappointing result for tag offences.
Tim Rowkins, Cllr. said that tagging had ruined the city too much for far too long. It has only gotten worse. This is vandalism, and those who are prolific in their tagging should face the consequences.
The council has the responsibility to remove tagging from council furniture and council-owned property, such as benches, bins and signs, and streetlights. The council’s resources would be better used elsewhere.
We are strengthening our enforcement tools. While prevention is the best option, we will continue to look at other options. It is important to work closely with Sussex Police in order to find opportunities to bring about immediate justice, where the offender must repair any damage within 48 hours.
We’re considering a rise in the Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) for graffiti violations from 150 to 500 s.p.
We will soon launch a public consultation to discuss our Graffiti Tagging Reduction Strategy. This is the way we plan to improve the situation. It’s very important for us to get feedback from people who have been affected by the tagging offenses in the city.
We’d love to hear how residents and business owners think we could continue to monitor, prevent, and enforce tagging infractions in the future.
Since 2019, other Brighton taggers were taken to court.
Caine Greenfield was sentenced to six months in jail last August after being caught by a council contractor, Lee Page, doing tags on and around North Street. He also received a suspended 26-week prison term for having a knife.
In December 2021 Paul Harris of Argus lofts, age 50, was fined and ordered to compensate for a series of tags in the North Laine.
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