FIVE boys caught spray painting on the walls of a small business have spent a morning doing unpaid work at the company as reparations for the damage they caused.

The boys, aged 13 and 14, were stopped by police officers on 25 November last year after being seen by a member of the public spray painting offensive words on the walls of JC Farley Ltd on Chatham Street, Ramsgate.

When officers searched the boys they found some of them carrying spray paint cans.

Police officers reprimanded the boys for the damage and then approached the boys’ parents with the suggestion that the boys do unpaid work at the business as reparations for the spray painting.

The parents all supported the suggestion and on Saturday, January 20, the boys spent a morning doing odd jobs at JC Farley, including cleaning vehicles, breaking up cardboard boxes and cleaning the rear yard.

The owner of JC Farley, John Farley, said he supported the idea that people who had done something wrong be allowed to face the victim and make reparations.

"This does actually affect us. We work hard and are ordinary people trying to make a living. Presentation in our trade is important and we don’t want our customers to see offensive language written on our business," he said.

"I think it might show them a little bit of common sense and that it’s not big and brave to write rude words on the wall. I don’t want some act of stupidity to blight their lives but I think a reasoned response where they get to meet the people they’ve affected gives them an awareness of what they’ve done."

PC Russ Haffenden, the investigating officer who arranged for the boys to do the unpaid work, said: "An awful lot of young people don’t appreciate the impact that their actions have on others and it’s only in hindsight that they begin to realise what they have done.

"We suggested to the boys’ parents that they could do unpaid work in recompense for the damage they caused and they fully supported the idea, as they agree that those that cause damage should help to clean it up.

"In this case the boys quickly realised the impact of what they had done and they themselves were happy to make reparations to the businessman through doing odd jobs for free."