VIGILANT Skipton police officers working in the early hours of Christmas morning prevented graffiti vandals causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

During a routine stop check at 3.30am on Christmas Day 2000, PC Glyn Rowland and PC Alan Mason caught six men in possession of a large haul of paint on their way to spray graffiti on new trains stabled at Skipton Station.

This week, following a year of extensive investigations, the men pleaded guilty to coming to Skipton with articles with intent to cause damage to trains.

DC Gary Heseltine, from the British Transport Police, said the Skipton officers' observations and actions had saved the train company in the region of £30,000.

He said graffiti vandals had targeted trains at Skipton Station about a dozen times during holiday periods over the past four years and the clean up was costing thousands of pounds.

The Skipton police officers in a marked police vehicle saw the two cars on Engine Shed Lane and followed them through an unauthorised access on to Ings Lane and out on to Broughton Road. Here one of the vehicles was stopped and the car searched.

The second vehicle was stopped soon after in the town centre.

DC Heseltine said: "What emerged from our inquiries was a deliberate plan to target the trains stabled overnight at Skipton station sidings over the festive period.

"What the public needs to understand is that when entire trains and carriages are painted with large murals they have to be taken out of service, cleaned and in many cases repainted. The estimated cost of repainting several carriages can be in the region of £20,000 to £30,000 so it really is a criminal act in every sense of the word."

On Christmas Eve 2000 there were over 15 trains in the sidings at Skipton. These included five new passenger trains that were on final testing prior to entering service in January.

"I believe the presence of these trains in particular was the likely target of these vandals. In graffiti culture there is nothing better than getting your 'tag' on a new train and seeing it go all around the country.

"The public needs to realise that graffiti on trains is highly organised. Vandals are prepared to travel hundreds of miles in order to paint trains. In this particular case they have travelled from Newcastle and Manchester," said DC Heseltine.

He said Skipton station was often targeted by vandals because there was vehicular access right up to the train lines and it was in a relatively quiet area. He could not believe the large amount of paint found in each car and thought a lot of damage would have occurred had the men not been stopped.

Skipton Sergeant Kevin Wilson said he was pleased with the outcome. "It was a good bit of bobbying on the officers' part, a good stop check."

The defendants were: Zachary Finemore Turner, 30, of Fulton Court, Manchester; Ian Rantoul, 30, of Carville Station Cottages, Wallsend; Kevin Rowntree, 26, of Warrwick Street, Newcastle; Dudley Adrian Halls, 24, and Adam Heiss, 20, both of Graby Road, Manchester; and James Peter David, 25, of Malton Drive, York.

The case was adjourned until February 1 when the defendants will be sentenced.