International train vandal gang smashed (From Your Local Guardian)

International train vandal gang smashed

8:31am Thursday 12th June 2008

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Nine vandals who targeted trams in Croydon and trains across the UK and Europe have pleaded guilty to a conspiracy that caused more than £600,000 damage.

The vandals, collectively known as the DPM crew, targeted trains and railway infrastructure across England from 2004 until their arrest in 2006 in what police called "military-style operations".

Detective Superintendent Michael Field, who led the British Transport Police inquiry, said the gang "thought they were untouchable".

"They would often be masked and conducted almost military-style operations in the belief that nothing could be proved against them."

Most of the DPM crew's activities were concentrated in south London including Croydon Tramlink depot but they also committed crimes in Liverpool, Manchester and Sunderland as well as in Amsterdam, the Czech Republic and Paris.

The last of the gang members, Paul Stewart, 26, from Lewisham changed his plea from not guilty to guilty to the conspiracy charge at Southwark Crown Court yesterday.

Eight others - Andrew Gillman, 25, from Battersea, Matthew Tanti, 23, from Streatham, Slav Zinoviev, 25, from Battersea, Jack Binnie, 25, from Lewisham, Ziggy Grudzinskas, 25, from Blackheath, Alex McClelland, 24, from Dulwich, Matthew Pease, 24, from Lewisham, James Teasdale, 21, from Dulwich - had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit criminal damage at Southwark Crown Court following a major graffiti investigation by British Transport Police.

The vandalism took place over two years and involved more than 120 offences.

Most of the men were arrested in June 2006 and charges were laid in October and November that year.

The police inquiry, known as Operation Shuttle, took more than seven months to complete. Four of the men were caught red handed as a result of a covert surveillance operation.

Police said the prime mover in the DPM crew was Battersea's Andrew Gillman. Just before Christmas 2007, whilst on bail, he took a casual job under a false name with the BBC. As part of his job, with the art department for Eastenders, he helped decorate the outdoor set at Elstree studios tagging it with "NEAS", "DPM" and references to "MOODY".

D Supt Field said the gang had been responsible for "major crime on a vast scale".

"Graffiti not only scars the railway environment, it contributes to the fear of crime and costs operators thousands of pounds in equipment downtime as well as cleaning," he said.

"Those costs have to be born by someone and that someone is ultimately the fare paying passenger.

"The people who have been convicted are certainly only part of the DPM crew.

"We will continue to be proactive in investigating and prosecuting graffiti crime wherever it occurs on the rail system."

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