University Professor Arrested for Polite Graffiti - as part of the news series by GeoBeats.
Graffiti is usually associated with bad language and graphic artwork.
However, it is not the technique of an England’s “polite graffiti artist”. A university professor allegedly used a screwdriver to scratch civil comments on about two dozen high end vehicles in Newcastle.
47-year-old Professor Stephen Graham from Newcastle University was arrested for suspicion of criminal damage. The chosen words that were etched into the vehicles included “really wrong”, “very silly” and “arbitrary”. However the damages totaled to more than $30,000. A victim of the crime states, “You work your whole life and you think you will treat yourself to something nice and then something like this happens. I'd only had the car for two months”.
Last year, another polite wrongdoing surfaced. Called the “polite robber”, Gregory Paul said to the clerk during a store holdup - “Could you do me a favor? Could you empty that till for me, please?” Then he brandished a gun and said, “Sir, I’m robbing you.”
He apologized profusely and said thank you. Hess even promised to return the cash if he got back on his feet”.