Climate "hoax" graffitist fined over £4,000 mural damage

Thursday 19 January 2023

A 63-year old graffitist, who inflicted £4,000-worth of damage to an environmental mural with climate change-sceptic scrawls, has been fined £500 and bound over for good behaviour.

The offences took place in November and December of 2021 when Mr Ruedi Wragg used spray paint to deface the Waterfront's 'Climate Stripes'.

The mural was designed and unveiled in summer 2020 by local artist Ian Rolls, who was commissioned by the Jersey Government to create the artwork to raise awareness of climate change and the rising temperatures recorded locally.

Later that year, it was vandalised with spray-painted messages decrying climate change as a "hoax", while one read: "how dare u scare kids".

Pictured: The damage inflicted on the mural in 2020.

The damage prompted Mr Rolls to revamp the artwork in February 2021 with a new design representing conversations and debate around climate change.

However, by November, it had been struck again with an image captioned "WARNING! CLIMATE CON-ARTISTS AHEAD" alongside a website address for climate change-sceptic organisation Clintel.

On 26 December 2021, police were alerted by a member of the public that someone was spray painting the mural again.

Officers were sent to the scene, where Wragg, who was wearing a motorcycle helmet to avoid being identified, was arrested at 03:20am with spray cans and a step ladder in his possession.

Pictured: The graffiti from November 2021, linked to climate-change sceptic group Clintel.

Wragg faced a trial in the Magistrate's Court this week, and was this afternoon sentenced for three counts of malicious damage in November and December 2021.

Mr Wragg was given a binding over order and ordered to pay back £500 in compensation, and £800 in prosecution costs.

Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Caroline Foord commented: "Unauthorised graffiti is an act of vandalism and Wragg's actions on these occasions ruined a public piece of art that had to be cleaned up and redesigned at a cost to taxpayers to over £4,000."

Pictured top: The graffiti sprayed in December 2021.