Four men believed to have travelled from Spain to graffiti London Underground trains have been sentenced. The group were caught trespassing on live railway lines in High Barnet in the early hours of Wednesday, July 8. They had spray painted large graffiti murals on the side of a Northern line train but were quickly spotted by TfL staff on CCTV, who contacted British Transport Police (BTP).
Arrests and evidence
Upon searching the area, officers found Juan Palomino Andres-Cabanas, 22, and Galo Adrian Romero-Valle, 21, arresting them and seizing their phones for evidence. The BTP also found several bags containing 44 aerosol spray cans in the bushes, while the other two men, Asier Dorado-Alosete, 21, and Javier Martinez-Lopez, 30, remained hidden.
The two arrested men admitted their offences and were charged with criminal damage, trespass and having articles to cause damage, appearing at North London Magistrates' Court the following day. Evidence downloaded from their phones revealed the group had also been involved in a separate incident of criminal damage to a train in Amersham that same night.
Flight arrests and sentencing
Downloaded data also told police of Mr Martinez-Lopez and Mr Dorado-Alosete's flights out of the country from Stansted Airport on July 9, where officers attended and arrested the pair as they waited to board. At Highbury Magistrates' Court on Saturday, the four men were handed five-year Criminal Behaviour Orders and fined £187. Mr Romero-Valle and Mr Andres-Cabanas were also ordered to pay £972 in compensation to TfL.
Mr Martinez-Lopez and Mr Romero-Valle were sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, while Mr Dorado-Alosete and Mr Andres-Cabanas were sentenced to 10 months, suspended for 12 months. Data also revealed that Mr Romero-Valle had a child sex abuse image on his phone, and he was charged with making an indecent image of a child in Category A and later pleaded guilty.
Police comment
BTP Sergeant Phil Osafo said: "This was an amazing effort by so many people at BTP to quickly attend the location and arrest those involved, and to later arrest the other two men before they could fly home. While these offences may seem relatively low-level, there is high cost involved to train operating companies who have to carry out repairs costing thousands of pounds. It also causes disruption across the rail network as trains are taken out of service to be cleaned. The conduct of these men was also incredibly ill-thought out as stepping on the tracks is extremely dangerous. The railway is an unforgiving environment to trespass on and our officers as first responders have sadly seen the horrific consequences of doing so."
