by Joe Walker

Friends of a graffiti artist jailed for 18 months have attracted almost 3,000 people to a Facebook group set up in support of his release.

Pals of Tom Stanley – who was found guilty last week on 12 counts of criminal damage – say it is an injustice that the graphic design student is behind bars.

Stanley, 25 – an award-winning artist in Canterbury – had denied charges of damaging property between 2005 and 2008.

But a jury convicted him at Maidstone Crown Court, where the damage caused was said to be valued at £52,147 – more than £4,000 for each offence.

The charges related to graffiti on trains and walls in Faversham, Ashford, Folkestone, Surrey and Manchester. Friends say Stanley – previously the best-selling artist at the Frisson Gallery in Palace Street – had committed himself to youth work after his arrest.

Sam Hollingsbee said: “You’re talking about a straight-edged man who doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke and does youth work.

“No one’s trying to say he shouldn’t be punished for the crimes he committed, but the sentence is absolutely ludicrous.

“You couldn’t meet someone less suited to prison. There’s not a bad bone in his body, but now his life has been ruined."

Stanley, from Tenterden, was just three weeks away from graduating from the University for the Creative Arts in Maidstone when he was jailed.

The judge described him as an “unrepentant graffiti vandal” and said he had to pass a custodial sentence given the lengthy period of the offences and the value of the damage.