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Man charged after church daubed in obscene graffiti

Emma Stanley
BBC News, Lancashire
BBC Some graffiti is blurred out due to its explicit nature. The words "God is a lie" is seen on the church stone wall with a graveyard in the foregroundBBC
The charges come after offensive graffiti was left at St James's Church

A man has been charged with religiously aggravated criminal damage after headstones in a church graveyard were daubed with obscene graffiti.

Offensive images and expletives were also sprayed on walls at St James Church in Leyland, near Preston, Lancashire, on 18 April.

Police also discovered damage left in nearby Slater Lane, while a window was smashed at St Mary's Church on 27 April.

Joseph Williams, 30, of Nelson Avenue, Leyland, was charged with 10 offences and is due to appear at Preston Magistrates' Court later.

He faces two offences of religiously aggravated criminal damage in relation to the damage at the two churches, seven counts of criminal damage to motor vehicles and one charge of criminal damage to property where a garden gate was spray painted, police said.

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