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Postboxes have been vandalised again just six months after they were spray-painted to look like Mr Blobby and a Cadbury’s Creme Egg.
The pillar boxes in Temple Hill, Dartford, have been given a fresh lick of paint — but it’s not the traditional Royal Mail red you might expect.
This time they have been redecorated to resemble different chocolate bar wrappers.
At least five of the area’s postboxes have been altered with one in Pilgrim’s Way decorated with the purple and red colours of a Cadbury Wispa, complete with stencilled logos.
Another in Nightingale Grove has been given two logos – a purple and yellow Twirl on one side and a black and red Mars on the other.
Meanwhile, a postbox in Temple Hill Square has been painted with a Mars wrapper design with a tribute to “NHS staff and black history month”, which is in October, added in gold writing around the top, with another in nearby St Vincent’s Road just coated in black paint.
It’s not yet known who is behind the latest spate of postbox repaintings.
However, in February this year, pillar boxes across the town suddenly changed to gold with residents questioning whether it may have been in tribute to the Olympics, as was the case during the London 2012 Games.
Royal Mail reported 26 postboxes had been targeted between January 31 and February 5 with the majority of the incidents happening in the Temple Hill area and surrounding roads.
Residents had mixed reactions with some welcoming the change of colour, saying it “brightened their day” and “put a smile on their face”, while others branded it “pure vandalism”.
Officers investigating the criminal damage issued a CCTV image and arrested a man who matched the description of the suspect before bailing him with conditions he did not go out in public with a can of spray paint or spray paint anything.
But the day after being bailed, other postboxes were given a makeover overnight and this time, they had not been painted gold, but had been adorned with the Mr Blobby and Cadbury’s Creme Egg designs.
In March, Danny Whiskin, 33, of Chaucer Way, Dartford, was rearrested.
He later appeared before Medway Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded guilty to the charge of criminal damage after daubing nearly 30 postboxes in paint.
Whiskin avoided jail but was placed on an 18-month community order and told to attend 12 sessions on a mental health programme.
He was also ordered to attend 30 rehabilitation sessions and a thinking skills programme for 26 sessions.
In addition, he was also told to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £2,600 compensation to Royal Mail and a victim surcharge to the courts of £114.
A spokesman for the Royal Mail said it is investigating the most recent incidents and is engaging with the officer they liaised with during the initial vandalism.
It said repainting the postboxes was an ongoing project, which was temporarily put on hold as they were being vandalised again as soon as they were repainted.
Kent Police said it had not received any reports with regards to the latest incidents.
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