A GRAFFITI vandal has been arrested in connection with a wave of paint-based damage that has blighted Portishead over the past 18 months.

For months, tags were continually daubed on buildings, bus shelters, fences and businesses, creating an eyesore in the town.

Police investigations, which started in March 2011, have led to the recent arrest of a local teenager, the boy who is aged under 17 cannot be named for legal reasons.

Earlier in the year, members of Portishead in Bloom compiled a list of graffiti hot spots and appealed to volunteers and North Somerset Council to help them clean it up ahead of the judging of the South West in Bloom competition.

Residents, who were disgusted with the repeated scrawling and regularly came out in force to help clean up the town, say they are delighted to hear that someone has been caught in connection with the mindless vandalism.