POLICE in Swindon are urging residents to come forward with clues to help snare vandals who sprayed racist graffiti on walls in Old Town.

Inspector Bob Markham, of the Community and Race Relations department, said officers only learned about last week's spate of vandalism, which saw racist graffiti sprayed on residents' walls, through the pages of the Evening Advertiser.

To help the investigation, he wants the public, particu-larly victims, to report further crimes so arrests can be made.

Insp Markham said: "We would urge the public to be vigilant.

"Information from residents will be key information and will help catch people who are trying to increase fear in the community.

"I want to make it clear to the public that cases like this tend to be of a minor scale, but the impact on individuals is very hurtful. This could be a reaction to national news events.

Local bigots or younger children are perhaps doing these things rather than an organised, sinister group.

"Each of the latest race hate crimes will be investi-gated. Anything that can be done will be done."

Insp Markham said racist graffiti appeared spor-adically around the town but it was not a big problem.

As reported in the Advertiser, the letters 'BNP' were spray-painted on the wall of 66-year-old Iquban Bains' home in North Street last Tuesday.

And later in the week, slogans such as 'Paki Scum' were sprayed in the alleyway between Victoria Road and the Prospect Place car park.

The BNP has distanced itself from the racist graffiti, saying members of the party were not responsible.

Speaking after the slogans were discovered, Jaginder Bassi, director of Swindon Racial Equality Council, was surprised Old Town had been targeted.

He said it could have been the result of the Adver's front page last Monday which revealed that BNP members had posted peace campaigner Andy Newman's full name and address on a white extremist website.

Anyone with information about the graffiti can phone Swindon Police on 01793 528111.

Ben Payne