THE only man prosecuted for the ‘Soak’ graffiti tag that spread across Oxford has been sentenced for drugs and driving offences.
Charlie Silver had to pay a total of just £200 in February after he admitted spraying the word on shop shutters in East Oxford.
The majority of charges against him were dropped.
No-one else has ever been charged in relation to the graffiti, which caused more than £20,000 damage.
Yesterday Silver, 21, was back at Oxford Magistrates’ Court where he admitted possessing cannabis and failing to stop a car when requested to do so by police.
Prosecutor Ann Sawyer-Brandish said police tried to stop Silver’s Audi A4 in Cowley Road, East Oxford, on April 4 because he was not wearing a seatbelt. But after initially stopping, Silver then sped off.
When police later found his car parked in nearby Cricket Road they found about a gram of cannabis in and around it.
Alice Dodd, defending, said Silver had a “turbulent upbringing” due to his mother’s “severe problem with Class A drugs”.
She said her client, who has no fixed address but is staying with friends, had recently secured an apprenticeship as a tattooist.
She added: “He is an artist, he does sell canvasses and he gets the odd commission.”
Silver was fined a total of £140 plus a £15 victims’ surcharge.
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