Hexthorpe Methodist Church on Urban Road was sprayed with graffiti.

The Balby and Hexthorpe Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) were informed and worked with the community to identify a suspect.

A local 16-year-old boy was issued with an £80 fine and was encouraged by the SNT to take part in Restorative Justice, where the individual apologies for their actions. The teenager went back to the church, apologised to the Reverend for his actions before cleaning up the graffiti.

Reverend John Hartley said, "We are very pleased that this young man came to meet us, admitted that he did the graffiti and helped to clear it up. Restorative Justice is obviously very effective and we trust that it will be in this case. We thank the safer neighbourhood team for all they have done"

The boy's mother said, "I am very disappointed in my son's behaviour and but I am glad he has had to pay for his actions."

Police Community Support Officer Everton Eschoe said, "The community worked with the SNT to help identify this individual. Evidence shows that the sooner graffiti is removed from an area the less likely it is to recur.

The SNT will continue to work on issues that matter to the community to increase their quality of life."

Doncaster Council in partnership with the police has procedures to deal with the identification and removal of graffiti. The public are urged to contact the FLAG Hotline number on 01302 736050 to report graffiti issues.