CCTV appeal over graffiti damage at medieval abbey

CCTV images of a man police want to speak to after a Unesco World Heritage Site in Yorkshire was damaged with graffiti have been issued.

Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, was targeted at about 23:30 GMT on Sunday, according to North Yorkshire Police.

Oil-based white paint was used to write "don't steal drugs" on medieval plasterwork at the Grade I listed building and had caused "considerable" damage, police said. Graffiti had also been found on the nearby St Mary's Church, they added.

A force spokesperson asked anyone who recognised the man, or with information about the incident, to get in touch.

Sgt Danny Copperwheat, from North Yorkshire Police, earlier described the vandalism as "an appalling act of vandalism on a world-renowned heritage site".

Fountains Abbey is one of two Unesco World Heritage Sites in Yorkshire, the other being Saltaire, near Bradford.

The monastic ruins are the largest in the country and date back to 1132, when 32 monks left St Mary's Abbey in York to set up a new community.

The abbey was dissolved in 1539 by King Henry VIII and the Crown sold the estate to merchant Sir Richard Gresham before it eventually passed to the National Trust.

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