VANDAL TARGETS JUDGE WITH INSULTING GRAFFITI

A graffiti vandal has daubed an offensive slogan about a judge on a railway bridge near the court where he sits.

The lout has scrawled the words ‘JUDGE CLARKE SMOKES CRACK’ in massive white letters on one of the arches near Blackfriars Crown Court in south London.

The graffiti is thought to be aimed at Judge Peter Clarke QC who regularly sits in court four.

Last month the judge jailed Daniel Halpin, described as one of Britain’s most prolific graffiti vandals, for 27 months.

Halpin, who claims he can make £4,500 an hour selling pictures with his TOX ‘tag’, had been hailed an ‘urban icon’ for avoiding prison for so long.

The 26-year-old from Camden, north London, had spent most of the last ten years defacing trains, bridges and walls, while blaming ‘imitators’ for stealing his tag.

Halpin, who has featured on television documentaries and in magazines, was found guilty of his latest string of graffiti attacks across England between 2007 and 2010.

He had been before the courts dozens of times but had always escaped with community service and ASBOs he has ignored.

At his most recent trial one supporter stated: ‘With the ratio of criminal damage against arrests he should be displayed in the Tate Modern.

‘He has embarrassed the police, outwitting all their CCTV and security schemes. He is a genius and an inspiration to all artists. TOX is a urban icon.’

But jailing him for 27 months Judge Clarke told him: ‘Although you regard yourself as artistic, I really can assure you on behalf of the court that there is very little artistic about it at all.

‘It is self-indulgent and it causes thousands and thousands of pounds of damage.

‘There has to come a time when a sentence is passed to indicate the sheer scale of your offences.’

As Halpin was led to the cells, he had yelled to the judge: ‘You’re a f***ing c***! You know that, you mug!’

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