The N Word and a poorly drawn swastika could be seen scrawled on the garage

By James Aldridge

An N-Word (blocked out by getreading) and a poorly drawn Swastika scrawled on the garage in Binfield Road. Credit: UGC

The community has pulled together after racist graffiti was painted on a garage in Bracknell.

People in the town rallied in support of mum of two Jessica Christina Barroso, 27, after she spotted the N-Word and a poorly drawn swastika on a garage near her home in Binfield Road, Bracknell, Berkshire.

The mum, who lives with her mixed race boys, was so shocked by the 'disgusting' scrawl she shared a photo of it on the We Love Bracknell facebook page asking for advice on how to get it removed, before reporting it to police and Bracknell Forest Council.

She said: "I think it's absolutely disgusting and upsetting that my children have to be exposed to it and see racism in this day and age.

"It's sad because I have to explain to them why it's there."

Once Ms Barroso posted on the group, a Bracknell man offered to paint over the racist graffiti.

"He was so lovely. He literally turned up in his work clothes and painted over it.

"There's been so much support from the community. One person has offered to buy gifts to cheer me up.

"The support has been such a good thing to come out of a bad situation.

"It's been overwhelming. You don't know the amount of people who agree with you until something like that goes out on social media.

"People from Bracknell Forest Council said they would come and remove it [before it was removed by the man].

"It just goes to show 99 per cent of Bracknell has been really nice."



The graffiti has now been painted over. Credit: UGC

Unfortunately, it's not the first time Ms Barroso's boys, aged seven and nine, have been aware of racism.

She said: "I think they have seen some of these sorts of thing in the past.

"But it still confuses them, and telling them about it is not a very nice conversation to have again."

The swastika, an emblem of the Nazi fascist regime, and the N-word, a derogatory term used to refer to black people, were dubbed on the garage door.

Thanking the man and other members of We Love Bracknell, Ms Barroso said: "Watching the man cover it was so nice.

"It's great to see people come together, offer us support and report it.

"Things don't have to be negative. Hopefully it won't happen again.

"I'd like to thank everybody who's helped us. Everyone's standing together, hopefully police figure out who's responsible and this action will have consequences."

A Thames Valley Police spokeswoman confirmed the incident is being investigated, and revealed Ms Barroso is also being harassed on Facebook.

She said: "On December 3 a report was made to us with regards to malicious communications via Facebook.

"It followed the discovery of racist graffiti in Binfield Road around two weeks ago, this has since been removed after a post was made online.

"Following that post a malicious message was sent to the victim, a woman in her twenties, with regards to this.

"An investigation has started in to the malicious communication and anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting reference 43180370409 or make a report online."

If you think someone you know may be a victim of hate crime, please call police on 101 or 999 in an emergency. You can also report crimes online or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The force launched its Hidden Harm campaign against hate crime and other forms of abuse earlier this year.

Police revealed Reading, Berkshire has the third highest level of hate crime in the Thames Valley, with 224 hate crime incidents recorded in the town between March 2017 and April 2018.

Bracknell and Wokingham, which are paired into a single police area, had fewer crimes with 158 recorded in the same period.