Appeal to report offensive graffiti along key road

A police investigation is under way into reports of racist, sexual and misogynistic graffiti at the side of the A64 in North Yorkshire.

Offensive messages appeared on bus-shelters, fences, junction boxes and buildings along a ten-mile stretch (16km) between West Knapton and Staxton Hill, North Yorkshire Police said.

Incidents have happened "sporadically over the past six months" and the force added that similar incidents had been investigated over several years.

A spokesperson said there had likely been more incidents than they knew about as "community-minded members of the public have cleaned the graffiti as soon as they've become aware of it and in some cases, it has not been reported to us".

They urged anybody who sees graffiti or who has information about who is responsible to "report it to the police as soon as you can and take a photograph if possible".

The force published a "sanitised photo of some of the least offensive graffiti" and said all the messages being investigated were "in similar writing".

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