CHARITY leaders with a mission to protect the environment have raised concerns about the rise in graffiti in Worcester.

West Mercia Police are hunting two prolific vandals who have left their unsightly tags across Worcester.

Now a prominent Worcester-based environmental charity, the Duckworth Worcestershire Trust, has given its support to police, expressing concern about the rise in the number of incidents.

Two particular tags, ASPER and SARK*, have appeared at various locations across the city from the sides of buildings to signs.

Police have vowed to make the vandals paint or scrub off the tags if the public can help to catch them.

Locations of the tags include the Shambles, New Street, Broad Street, Sansome Street, Pheasant Street, Lowesmoor, City Walls Road, Shaw Street and Farrier Street.

Roisin Hanks, project manager at the Duckworth Worcestershire Trust, admitted the city's graffiti problem appears to be on the rise based on information supplied by their two wardens and by Cecil Duckworth himself.

The trust is registered charity, established in 1998 by Mr Duckworth, former chairman of Worcester Heat Systems (now Worcester Bosch).

The trust manages the Pump House Environment Centre, Worcestershire Resource Exchange and Chapter Meadows, as well as a number of woodland and riverside sites owned by Worcester City Council.

Mrs Hanks said graffiti could be either painted over or removed with chemicals by the charity.

However, they first had to obtain permission from a building's owner before they can act. They also have to make sure they have the correct paint mix.

She said: "It is something Mr Duckworth feels very strongly about. He is aware of the problem and we got rid of some graffiti in St Mary's Street just before Christmas.

"I would say the problem is increasing which is unfortunate."

She said it was a quality of life issue and graffiti, like other environmental issues, reflected poorly on the city and did not create a good impression for visitors.

The charity is dedicated to the conservation, protection and enhancement of the natural and built environments for the people of Worcestershire.

Sgt Pete Frankish welcomed the charity's support and said: "Some good information is being provided from members of the public for which we are very grateful.

"We are trawling CCTV from local business premises and have been documenting the tags evidentially for use in interview when the suspects are positively identified.

"At this time we are still to identify the suspects and would ask for continued public support in order to identify who is responsible."

Police estimate the criminal damage crosses the £5,000 threshold which means it is treated more seriously by the courts in the event of a conviction.

Two suspects have yet to be identified but descriptions have been issued.

Some CCTV stills of poor quality have been released so far with the hope that clearer images can soon be obtained.

One suspect is described as 5ft 11ins and was spotted wearing black jeans and a black hoodie which was white inside. Unusually, considering it was dark at the time, the suspect was wearing sunglasses.

The second is about 5ft 8ins. He was spotted wearing a black jacket, black jeans and black footwear.

Anyone with information about the graffiti can contact West Mercia Police on 101 and ask to speak to PC Katie Miller or Sgt Pete Frankish, quoting incident reference 22CA/104119X/16.