A NEW tag has sprung up in the Stratton area as a number of scrawlings in black spray paint have been found on public and private property.

During recent days the distinctive KRAB or CRAB tag has been found on phone boxes, street signs and walls to private property. The markings have been found primarily in two areas, around Hathaway Road and the section of Ermin Street that runs through Stratton.

The tag is a relatively new marking for the police in the area, who are concerned at the quantity of graffiti found in the area over the past week.

Most of the vandalism has now been professionally cleaned and removed by officers from Swindon Council, but other instances have since been found in the area.

Barbara Enwright, 86, of Hathaway Road, had paint daubed on the bus stop outside her house.

“It is not something that happens very often, especially round here,” she said. “It has all happened quite recently, around the last week. There was a great big scribble on the bus stop window, and it looks like it has all been done by the same person.

“The one outside mine was cleaned off yesterday. I think I have seen something similar before, but things like this always happen. It can be a bit of a nuisance here, but while you get a few boys and girls messing about they are not all the same.”

Heather Tunbridge, 51, of Hathaway Road, had spied a scrawl on a cable box outside her house.

“It has all been done by the same person,” she said. “I have been here for 20 years and never known anything like this done before.

“There are no teenagers round here who would do something like this, so I think they will have come down here from elsewhere. A lot of it has been cleaned off but it looks like they have come back. It is not right really, and it’s not like this area.

“It is a very quiet area usually, but we do get kids coming round every now and then causing hassle.

“Some of the statues in the park across the road all got broken a while ago when they came down and wrote all over them.”

Police are appealing for any information in connection with the vandalism.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “The tag is either KRAB or CRAB and has recently been spray painted in the Hathaway Road and Ermin Street area. We have had all the graffiti cleaned by Swindon Council, but would like to know the identity of the offender.”

If anyone has any information on the identity of the offender, or have seen the markings in any other areas, contact Wiltshire Police on non-emergency number 101, quoting crime reference 47671.