Graffiti vandal behind £130K tube damage claimed he was ‘creating job for person cleaning it’

Bacari Adams' favourite tag was tattooed on his knuckles

A graffiti vandal who caused over £130,000 worth of damage to the London Underground tried a novel defence - that he was "creating a job for the person cleaning it".

Bacari Adams was caught red-handed when officers discovered his favourite tag was the very same one tattooed on his knuckles.

Dozens of trains and stations were damaged by Adams totalling 77 offences - all committed across the city railway system.

British Transport Police officers first started investigating the 33-year-old in 2016 by interviewing people who said they had seen someone trespassing onto the railway, sometimes in the dead of night, and scrawling tags on trains and other property.

Adams and a second man, 31-year-old Jake Martin, were arrested at their homes in December 2018, and pictures of the damage they caused were found on their phones along with text and WhatsApp messages discussing new targets.

Adams admitted the offences in January 2019 after being shown CCTV footage of him tagging a London Overground train, telling officers: “Sorry, I’m not going to do it again. I can’t deny catching me red-handed, only an idiot would deny that."

Adams, of Enfield, was jailed for six months at Inner London Crown Court last month after admitting a charge of conspiring to destroy or damage property.

Martin, of Tottenham, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months in prison suspended for 18 months.

The damage caused to the railway totaled £133,817.

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