Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Hoody clean-up

Two "hoodies" are at the centre of a vandalism mystery after cleaning spray-painted abuse from a bus at a school for children with special needs.

The mini-bus at the Anna Ritchie School in Peterhead, in Scotland, had been vandalised in recent weeks. However, two youths with their faces covered by hooded tops were captured on CCTV spending more than an hour scrubbing the abuse during the night.

One theory is a guilty conscience, or parents sending them to clean it up.Staff at the school said the mini-bus was important for the children and that the clean-up had restored their faith in young people.

Head teacher Ishbel Cruickshank told BBC Scotland: "Our mini-bus had been vandalised during the Easter holidays. However, then I found it had gone.

"I spoke to the janitor thinking he had removed it, but the CCTV footage showed two youths removing it. They were aware they were being filmed, they never turned to look at the camera and we never saw their faces as they wore hooded tops." She added: "I was just delighted. We may never know who it was, was it the people who did it in the first place? However, we are very grateful. I am really very glad that someone has acted. Too often the youths are condemned. For a change this is a good news story."

Grampian Police confirmed there had been vandalism between 29 March and 9 April. Staff then discovered it had been cleaned off when they arrived on 11 April.

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