No further investigation into obscene La Haule graffiti

Thursday 25 May 2023

Recent graffiti on a beachside wall – which included obscene images and a suspected racial slur – has now been cleaned off, with officers saying they'll investigate further if they notice a trend.

Among the series of painted tags on the sea wall and toilet block near La Haule slipway in St. Brelade were genitalia, weed bongs, initials and an Instagram handle of a shut down account.

The graffiti was initially highlighted on Monday morning by a social media user, who suggested that the tags could be seen as racially offensive.

The Infrastructure and Environment department (IHE) have now cleaned the paint off the wall and adjacent toilet block.

John Shatford, the Community Officer for St. Brelade, told Express that it was an "isolated incident" and there would be no further investigation.

When he arrived at the scene, IHE had already erased the racist slur, so there is no way of knowing which minority group it targeted.

Video: The graffiti on Tuesday morning, before it was washed off.

However, Officer Shatford said he had never seen "that amount of tags in one place at one time" in his parish.

He added that the Instagram handle included in the graffiti did not link to an active page, saying: "It said the page had been shut down, so if that was a nasty or racist account, I can understand why."

"We get this on the island occasionally, there are little tags everywhere, especially in St. Helier, but that it was surprising we saw that quantity out here," he added.

"It will go down as malicious damage with no suspects, because the damage has now been removed, there was no evidence of a group of people, and it is of nominal value. Only if we saw this as a trend we would investigate it."

This comes after reports of bottle-smashing on St. Brelade's Beach this weekend, which Officer Shatford said was a "very small" but "recurring issue" every summer.

He encouraged islanders to report incidents to the police, instead of simply posting to social media, and said he continues to speak with beachgoers about clearing their rubbish responsibly.