A university professor and the street of cars scratched with a better class of graffiti

University professor Stephen Graham was arrested after 24 cars were damaged in an affluent street

The cars were vandalised with a screwdriver and were etched with the words 'very silly' and 'arbitrary'



The damage is estimated to have cost £20,000



Victims of graffiti commonly find themselves painting over misspelled profanities or scrubbing out obscene drawings.

But when the residents of Northumberland Gardens woke to find their luxury cars had been vandalised, the tone was rather more – polite.

Words including ‘very silly’, ‘really wrong’ and ‘arbitrary’ had been scratched into the paintwork with a screwdriver.

Academic arrested: Professor Stephen Graham was arrested over the late-night wrecking spree



Not that the choice of vocabulary will be much consolation. The late-night wrecking spree caused £20,000 damage to the 24 cars targeted in the affluent suburb of Jesmond, Newcastle.

Hours later, Professor Stephen Graham, 47, was arrested and questioned by police. An academic at Newcastle University, he lives in the next street from Northumberland Gardens, where most of the attacks were carried out.

Among the cars damaged were a Mercedes SLK, BMW 520, a BMW X5 and a Land Rover.

A resident rang police in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday, when he spotted a man in black shorts and a black jacket crouching down next to a car.

Polite graffiti: Christine Carr was one of the residents of an affluent street whose car was vandalised with the words 'really wrong' scratched into her Mercedes

Professor Graham was later arrested by officers and held on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

One resident of Northumberland Gardens, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘My neighbour came to me this morning and said her car had been damaged.

‘She guessed that the person responsible was more educated than your usual vandal because words were etched on rather than just scratches.

‘We wondered if it had anything to do with planning rows. There is an issue over restricted parking on nearby streets, so people have been bringing cars over to park around here.’



Mary Barrett, a retired psychologist, of nearby Ripon Gardens, found her silver Mercedes E270 had been vandalised with the word ‘arbitrary’ scratched into the paintwork in six-inch high capital letters. ‘I felt sick when I saw it, I was close to tears,’ she said yesterday.



Mindless vandalism: A screwdriver was used to etch words into the bodywork

Scene: Northumberland Gardens where the vandalism took place on Mondaymight

‘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.



‘The young lad across the street whose car was vandalised was absolutely devastated. All I want to know is why they did this.’



Christine Carr, 55, a civil servant who is married with two children, had the words ‘really wrong’ scratched in capital letters into her silver Mercedes Kompressor.

'All I want to know is why they did this' Resident Mary Barrett, whose car was vandalised with the word 'arbitrary'

‘I just got back from holiday in Spain,’ she said. ‘I didn’t notice anything immediately when I got home but when I went to move my car this morning I saw a leaflet [on it].’

‘At first I thought I had a parking ticket, but when I looked closer I could see that the car had actually been vandalised and a leaflet from the police was on there saying there had been damage. It is absolutely terrible. I’ve had the car for ten years and just had it re-sprayed a couple of weeks ago, which cost me £2,000. This is now going to cost me well over another £1,000 to fix.’

A black Nissan Navara 4x4 also had the word ‘wrong’ scratched into a panel.

Professor Graham, a graduate of Southampton University, is based at Newcastle University’s school of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, and specialises in the study of cities and society.

The author, editor or co-author of seven books, he also looks at the sociology of technology, researching urban aspects of surveillance.



Back from holiday: Ms Carr did not notice the damage to her car until a leaflet from police was left on the windscreen notifying her of the damage. She said it was going to cost her more than £1,000 to fix



He has previously held lecturing positions at Durham University and the well-respected Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as a visiting lecturer. A spokesman for Northumbria police said: ‘At 1.15am (on August 27) a report was received that a male was damaging cars in Northumberland Gardens, Jesmond.

‘Officers attended and reported that 24 cars had sustained damage. Further enquiries revealed that the vehicles were damaged by the offender using a screwdriver to etch words into the bodywork. A 47-year-old male has been arrested for criminal damage and subsequently bailed pending further enquires.’

A spokesman for Newcastle University confirmed Professor Graham was employed by the institution, but said he was ‘currently absent from work’.

They added: ‘Due to an on-going police investigation we can say no more.’

