Ancient Roman walls vandalised in 'heritage crime'

The ancient Roman walls surrounding Chester city centre have been vandalised with graffiti.

Cheshire Police said a witness had reported "four women spraying white paint" on the walls - which are listed as a World Heritage site - just after 16:30 GMT on Monday.

The walls are believed to be about 2,000 years old and were built by the Romans to defend a fort known as Deva Victrix, which became Chester.

Officers from the Rural Crime Team found a section of the walls near the cathedral and Northgate, including the King Charles Tower, daubed in graffiti including the tags 'Jasmine', 'Paris' and 'Lilly'.

PC Jono Lightfoot said the walls had "very strict" protections in law as a Scheduled Monument and World Heritage site.

"Spraying paint like this on the historic fabric causes damage to the stone and It also costs a lot of money to remove," he said.

"This type of incident is a heritage crime and will not be tolerated."

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