MORE than 500 people have joined an online campaign launched in protest over the jailing of a pair of young graffiti artists.
It's hoped the campaign will provide a boost for Thomas 'TJ' Dolan, 20, and Thomas Whittaker, 18, who were sent to prison last week by a Manchester Crown Court judge.
TJ is currently being treated for stress in a prison hospital.
The pair admitted causing around £13,000 worth of damage to trains, bridges and railway property across the North West.
TJ Dolan, was sentenced to 15 months behind bars and Whittaker, of Brocklehurst Avenue, Macclesfield, was jailed for one year.
Neither the boys, who expected lengthy ASBOs, nor their parents and the community thought they would be sent to prison.
Appeal
The internet campaign "Free Kreky", named after Dolan's graffiti tag, is now gathering force on social networking site Facebook, as messages of support flood in from around 530 members who back the parents' plan to appeal against the sentence.
TJ's father Tommy Dolan, 56, his wife Judy, 57, have now visited their son, who is currently being treated for stress in the hospital at a prison for young offenders at Lancaster Farms, and were appalled by what they saw.
"It was awful seeing him there," he said. "Going to prison was such a shock to his system. It's the loneliness that is hardest for him, and for us too."
The pair were both also given five-year ASBOs in which they were banned from carrying paint on the railway network - punishment they both expected.
But neither dreamed they would lose their freedom.
Tommy said seeing his son and his friend being sentenced was hard to witness. "It was just dreadful seeing them in the dock. TJ and Tom looked just like lost children," he said.
Hundreds of comments on the jailing of the pair have also been left on this website.
Read more about this story via the links on the right.
Have your say below.
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Power to The People, Blackley (05/09/2007 at 15:26)
Why should they get away with damaging other peoples property just because they feel like it.
If they were my kids I would be ashamed of them let them stay behind bars and learn a lesson.
They will get away with it because of these so called human rights groups who dont care that victims rights have been violated too.
Peter Heathcote, Stockport (05/09/2007 at 15:31)
ace, manchester (05/09/2007 at 15:32)
Fully agree with you mate.ZERO TOLLERANCE
Dukinfield Blue, Manchester (05/09/2007 at 15:41)
Let them rot in Jail, they are the scum of the earth.
kate urmpie (05/09/2007 at 15:47)
Have you no heart?!!!
These two guys are 18 & 20. You think painting on a train means a year of their lives should be taken away from them??!!
Does anyone else agree that this punishment seems a little extreme?!!
KM (05/09/2007 at 15:48)
do you not realise they are harmless young men with their whole lives infront of them? theyre not criminals and it was their first offense!
Graffiti (when done correctly) is an art form and you old sods need to get with the programme and realise that its about spreading the word and being original with where you plave your pieces.
you personally were not hurt by the two Toms and all this negative emotion cannot be good for your health!
for what they did that this is the right causes of action to take.
My thoughts are with them, their friends and their family.
free them.
Phil Hulme (05/09/2007 at 15:50)
As for their 500+ supporters, maybe they'd like to put their hands in their pockets to pay for cleaning these trains; it probably only works out as the cost of a couple of cans of spray paint each.....
come-on-city (05/09/2007 at 15:54)
However they shouldnt be inside mixing with real thugs. They are young kids who deserve a second chance. They are talented and shouldnt be punished for having a talent, in America they would have been sent to Art school or something to harness talents not destroy it.
Besides this kind of graffiti brightens places up.
shaunybhoy, salford (05/09/2007 at 15:54)
heres a good idea if there that worried about them let them both out of jail and hit the parents with the cost of the clean up £13,000 in total see the smile wiped off there faces
come-on-city (05/09/2007 at 15:55)
They didnt hurt anyone, they dont deserve this punishment.
Lisa Moore...Wilmslow...Cheshire (05/09/2007 at 15:58)
KM (05/09/2007 at 16:01)
and their supporters ARE putting their hands in their pockets to raise money for them.
come-on-city (05/09/2007 at 16:02)
come-on-city (05/09/2007 at 16:03)
come-on-city (05/09/2007 at 16:03)
Mr Manchester (05/09/2007 at 16:06)
Hmmmmm...
BLUE DIBBLE, ashton (05/09/2007 at 16:07)
Mark,Radcliffe. (05/09/2007 at 16:13)
ace, manchester (05/09/2007 at 16:20)
Lets hope this is the start of something new? Real laws that worry teenagers,that their acts of vandalism will not be tollerated and if the law start to do the same with thugs maybe in a few years the streets may be safe to walk again?
Chuckie Booya, Manchester (05/09/2007 at 16:25)
This is just another example of a minoritie's form of expression being stamped out by the majority, when what's really needed is just a compromise; it would cost taxpayers far less for the city to provide facilities for graffiti artists to express themselves under the citie's own terms (eg designated areas for graffiti and commisioned urban art installations) than to pay to clean up after them.
While this would cut down on graffiti done illegally, it wouldn't remove it entirely, but as far as actual private property damage, such heavy handed tactics will just miss the point entirely; when the actual reason to punish people for graffiti is the cost to clean it up surely the cheapest method for the taxpayer would be to give these people community service orders to repair the damage done themselves, rather than the city paying for both the cleaning expenses and a stay in prison for these people.
There are plenty of minority situations in democracy where taxes are allocated from the majority to provide workable solutions, and that already includes government established art councils, people choosing to express themselves and being given the means to do so. Graffiti is undeniably an urban subculture, and attempting to wipe it out rather than include it as part of our culture is what would be done in a dictatorship, not a democracy.
Adam Smiff (05/09/2007 at 16:26)
Not quite sure what their defence was.. errr didn't know wot we woz doing was illegal officer?
They had their fun and got busted.Harsh sentance? Maybe.
Don't think they nor their 500 facebook friends will be doing it again. Case dismissed!
Paul Nolan.......Super Leeds, Manchester (05/09/2007 at 16:28)
If these lads would have said they had theyre feet on seats whilst doing theyre art they might have got off with it. If these people got sent to prison then so should the girl who put her feet on the train seats.
Shame on you the judge who sent these poor lads to prison, shame on you.
Power to The People, Blackley (05/09/2007 at 16:30)
Someone eventually has to pay for these things to be cleaned up and it is us law abiding tax payers that it gets past onto.
The guys are criminals and rightly should be sent down. I just wish more judges would take a hard line and eal with the muggers and burgalars of this world in the same way.
We have gone too soft on all types of crime, zero tolerance is the way to go
nickyb, Altrincham (05/09/2007 at 16:33)
Breadmikey, Poynton (05/09/2007 at 16:35)
Phil Heathcote