Bus driver faces jail over Tube grafitti

A former bus driver who caused nearly half a million pounds worth of damage during 15 years of scrawling graffiti on Tube trains avoided jail today.

Daniel Koroma, 28, has a history of vandalism and a string of previous convictions over the past 11 years for graffiti on trains across the Tube network.

Koroma was given a five-year anti-social behaviour order at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court banning him from committing other acts of graffiti on Tube trains or from having any pens or spray cans on him for use for graffiti. He was also sentenced to a 200 hours community punishment order and ordered to pay £500 compensation.

Koroma was caught vandalising a Tube train on CCTV cameras after a two-year campaign by British Transport Police.

Koroma, who has already served a jail sentence for criminal damage, admitted causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to the Northern and Victoria lines, often distinguishable by his "tag" Idea or Ohdea.

Judge Jeremy Connor said: "This really makes the public despair ... graffiti impinges [on] every single person who uses the Underground."

PC Brian Taylor said outside the court: "What he was sentenced for is just the tip of the iceberg."