Adam Blythe jailed for York Minster and Clifford’s Tower graffiti

Adam Blythe sprayed slogans and his Twitter address on the walls of both mediaeval buildings and York Observatory in Museum Gardens because he was convinced cancer was the result of babies receiving brain implants, his solicitor, Nicholas Darwin, told York magistrates.

After psychiatrists declared he was not suffering from a mental illness, he went to London and was arrested at the BBC Television Centre, where he claimed he was in negotiations with broadcaster over a project for the children’s digital channel CBBC.

Jane Chadwick, for the prosecution, said the damage to the vandalised York landmarks cost a total of £5,500 to repair.

“These are not the actions of a rational man,” Mr Darwin said. “It is clear evidence this is a man who was ill and may still be ill at this time.”

Blythe, 30, pleaded guilty to three charges of criminal damage and was jailed for nine weeks. He grew up in York, but does not have a fixed address. As he lives on benefits, magistrates did not order him to pay the cost of removing the graffiti.

Mrs Chadwick said the vandalism began on the night of April 15 when Blythe used black paint to spray: “Brain implant kill”,“3pm or Bpm” and his twitter address on the walls of York Minster. It cost £2,500 to remove. Nine nights later, this time in red paint, he wrote “post mortem” “Xhatch brain implant kill” , “cure cancer 4 good vote blue” on York Observatory and an ice-cream van in Museum Gardens. York Museums Trust paid £500 to remove his work.

The same night he went to Clifford’s Tower and wrote, also in red, “post mortem”, “Xhatch implant kill”, “stop cancer 4 life” and added his Twitter address. English Heritage paid out £2,500 to clean the wall.

Mr Darwin said police tracked Blythe down through the twitter address and had him sectioned under the Mental Health Act. But after seven days in a Bridlington unit where he had been treated before, doctors let him go and he travelled to London.