After tagging his own name, a graffiti artist has got away with his crime after Police admitted they were powerless to act, under GDPR.

Under GDPR anyone whose information is held by  third party has to give explicit consent for their data to be used. However, without the explicit consent of the artist, police are unable to act on this information.

Ian Napton, the graffiti artist, explained, “That was a bit of luck, I thought they had me bang to rights,  I mean I’d put my fuc*in’ name on it. Apparently, I should  have added a check box, giving consent for me details to be used by a third party, in this case the pigs. I’ll certainly remember that for next time.”

A police spokesman explained, “We have to take these data protection regulations very seriously. Explicit consent must be obtained before personal data can be used, it’s a basic human right, apparently. We can’t go breaking the law because it doesn’t put us in  very strong position, re; catching criminals.”

Local residents were more philosophical. They’ve tried, repeatedly, to get something done about the graffiti. Gav from Eastbourne commented, “If it was a Banksy you wouldn’t mind, you can always make a few quid off the tourists. But this is just an idiot proving he can write his own name, something any child of 14 can manage.”