A KIND-HEARTED artist has helped to clean-up a war mural he helped to create, following its desecration around Remembrance Day.

Scott Irving came up to Witham to clean the war mural by the river walk

The mural was graffitied with offensive symbols and images around the time of Remembrance.

Scott has been running Brave Arts in Southend for 20 years.

He works with youths, teaching them spray can art and the differences between making a positive and negative mark.

Scott helped to create the mural in 2017.

He said: “I worked with a secondary school in Witham a few years ago to create the mural.

“We went to historians in the area to get some facts about the war, and it turned out great.

“It has quotes, great images and was really nice project to do, I think the kids got a lot out of it.”

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It isn’t the first time the mural has been ruined, with the Southend artist also helping to clean it before.

Upon finding out about the recent graffitiing, Scott rushed back to help.

He said: “I basically dropped everything to come and sort it when I heard what had been sprayed on.

“Every second that it was on the wall I was really upset.

“I heard about it on Monday and came up on Tuesday, I think people really appreciated it.”

The community response received was great, with some hailing Scott as a hero.

Since the event, Essex Police have appealed for information on the vandalisation.

The damage was reported to the police on November 18.

A spokesperson for the Police has said: “If you have any information, you can submit a report online at essex.police.uk or use the 'Live Chat' button to speak to an online operator between 7am-11pm.

“Please quote reference 42/267914/21.

“You can also call us on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Scott has said that he hopes they are found, saying: “It isn’t nice to think there is someone like that in your area, I hope they can be found because it’s a horrible thing to do.”