Facebook campaign swells for jailed Kent award-winning graffiti artist
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by Joe Walker
Friends of a graffiti artist jailed
for 18 months have attracted almost 3,000 people to a Facebook
group set up in support of his release.
See some of the comments at the
bottom of the page.
Pals of Tom Stanley – who was found
guilty last week on 12 counts of criminal damage – say it is an
injustice that the graphic design student is behind bars.
Stanley, 25 – an
award-winning artist in Canterbury – had denied charges of damaging
property between 2005 and 2008.
But a jury convicted him at
Maidstone Crown Court, where the damage caused was said to be
valued at £52,147 – more than £4,000 for each offence.
The charges related to graffiti on
trains and walls in Faversham, Ashford, Folkestone, Surrey and
Manchester.
Friends say Stanley – previously the best-selling artist at the
Frisson Gallery in Palace Street – had committed himself to youth
work after his arrest.
Sam Hollingsbee said: “You’re
talking about a straight-edged man who doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke
and does youth work.
“No one’s trying to say he
shouldn’t be punished for the crimes he committed, but the sentence
is absolutely ludicrous.
“You couldn’t meet someone less
suited to prison. There’s not a bad bone in his body, but now his
life has been ruined."
Stanley, from Tenterden, was just
three weeks away from graduating from the University for the
Creative Arts in Maidstone when he was jailed.
The judge described him as an
“unrepentant graffiti vandal” and said he had to pass a custodial
sentence given the lengthy period of the offences and the value of
the damage.
See more reaction in this
week's Kentish Gazette.
Wednesday, May 05 2010
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