POLICE are hunting a suspected vandal after graffiti was scrawled on a wall in the city centre.

Resident Terry Scard spotted a man who appeared to be tagging in Brighton’s North Laine at 10.30pm on Saturday.

Mr Scard, 63, chased the suspect and took a photograph of him, before reporting the incident to the police.

Now officers want to speak to this man in connection with the offence.

Mr Scard said: “As I was returning home with my wife there was some lad there doing his graffiti down the wall, which had just been painted by people who have given up their valuable time to make the area look better.

“I moved here three years ago, and even in that time it has got much worse.

“It is now an epidemic.

“I am horrified at the amount of graffiti and tagging which is just exploding all over the city.

“It is not the artist’s graffiti, it is this scrawl writing.

“Enough is enough.

“This was at 10.30pm and there were a lot of people around but he didn’t care.

“He was only about 100 yards away from some police officers.”

Mr Scard said residents in North Laine had worked together and volunteered to paint over graffiti as fast as possible in a battle against the taggers.

The area has several giant graffiti murals, particularly in the streets around North Road.

Elsewhere in the city, tagging was also reported at Park Crescent near The Level on Friday, but it was quickly painted over the next day.

Mr Scard said he was shocked about how brazen taggers had become, as newly painted walls had been tarnished.

He said he would be prepared to testify in court and believes that residents taking action and trying to stop those responsible will help to begin solving the issue.

Mr Scard said: “If the public is turning against them and taking action, it might stop it from happening a bit more.”

A Sussex Police spokeswoman confirmed officers want to speak to the pictured man in connection with the vandalism. She said: “Police received a report of a man spraying graffiti in London Road, Brighton.

“An image taken by the informant has been passed to local officers and an investigation continues.

“We would like to identify the man in the picture and any other line of enquiry will be investigated.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 101 or contact police online at sussex.police.uk quoting serial 1553 of 02/06.