Peed-off tradesman films serial urinator

10:48am Friday 27th June 2008

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A trader from Battersea has turned to YouTube to help catch a serial urinator who has targeted his business more than 10 times in the last three months.

James Harris is so desperate to catch a man who has been routinely urinating on and through the letterbox of his upholstery business that he secretly filmed him and put the footage on the popular website.

It’s very degrading for me and my staff to have to clear up urine in the morning."

James Harris

He hopes the culprit - who Mr Harris is convinced is local - will either be caught or shamed into stopping his unhygienic actions.

Police have viewed the footage and have confirmed they are investigating the incident for suspected criminal damage.

Mr Harris, who has run the Upholstery Workshop in Webb's Road for 18 years, says he cannot understand why he would be the target of such a bizarre attack.

He said: "I first noticed this about three months ago. We came into work and there was a puddle, both outside and inside the door. We thought it was an isolated incident and we cleaned it up. However it has been happening a lot since then and there have been scratches on the door too.

"I got so fed up of cleaning up the mess that I spent £800 on surveillance equipment and set up a few cameras to catch the culprit."

Mr Harris' footage shows the same man urinating against and through the front doors of his business as well as using his keys to scratch the paintwork.

The 48-year-old - an upholsterer of 25 years - added: "The police asked me whether I had annoyed anyone who might be doing this as some sort of revenge attack, but I can't think if anyone I might have wronged.

"It might seem petty but this is criminal damage. The ammonia has stripped away the paintwork and it's warped the wooden doors. It's also very degrading for me and my staff to have to clear up urine in the morning.

"The police are baffled so I thought I'd put my footage on YouTube to try and catch him. He doesn't look like he's a drunk or he's homeless - at one point you can see he's wearing a wedding ring. I wonder if his wife knows what he's been doing.

"He comes late at night. At first it was between 11pm and midnight and lately he's been coming an hour or so later.

"I have been outside waiting for him a few times to see if I can find him but I've had no success yet."

A spokesman for Wandsworth police confirmed the Northcote safer neighbourhood team were investigating the incident for criminal damage and said officers had viewed the footage taken by Mr Harris.

The spokesman added: "This would be investigated as criminal damage, as this guy urinating has actually caused damage to this guy's shop."

Anyone with information about the incident should contact the Northcote safer neighbourhood team on 020 8721 2431.