Graffiti grandmother revealed as culprit behind anti-Brexit slogans scrawled in chalk on town walls
A pensioner caught on camera scrawling an anti-Brexit slogan on a wall using chalk has said she did it for her grandchildren.
Hazel Jones, 71, was revealed to be the person behind a series of slogans that were etched into walls and fences across Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
While younger vandals had initially been blamed for the mysterious graffiti, video footage shot by a resident finally outed Ms Jones.
The retired teacher was filmed scrawling the words, “Brexit is based on lies. Reject it” on the wall of a school playing field.
In the footage, she puts the chalk back in her pocket before leaving the scene using her walking stick.
The 30-second clip was posted on Facebook by Carla Petts, who wrote: “Keep seeing this message appear on this wall. Thought it must be some youths writing it. Today I spotted the culprit. What a woman!”
Ms Jones later told The Times: “Had I known I was being filmed I would have dressed up a bit more.”
She has been writing political slogans since the Brexit referendum in 2016 and said she did it for her four grandchildren, who she believes have been “wronged” by her generation.
Ms Jones, a widow, said she didn’t consider herself a vandal as the chalked slogans washed off in the rain. She said she only scrawled on public walls and fences and not on houses.
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“We all have to do our bit and I think it’s very important that people are made aware of the imminent catastrophe that we will be faced with if Brexit goes through,” she said.
“My generation has fouled up the prospects of younger people, so it’s my grandchildren that I’m doing it for.”
A former Labour supporter, she said she now voted for the Liberal Democrats because the party supported a second EU referendum.
“I usually tend to get up early and write when I’m on my way into town or going to the shops,” she said.
Ms Jones said she was spotted by Ms Petts on August 2 because she was “a little later than usual”.
She said: “I suppose the game is up now, I can’t keep on doing it any more.
“My children are worried there may be reprisals but it really never occurred to me that it was an offence. It’s just chalk after all.
“But if the government chooses to deliberately impose on its own population food shortages, job losses and disruption of medical supplies, they really need not fear old ladies pointing this out.”
