Ex-RAF cadet behind Nazi graffiti named as Aristedes Haynes

The artwork was part of celebrations of the town's Caribbean community

A 17-year-old former RAF cadet who drew Nazi symbols on a mural celebrating the Caribbean community has been named for the first time.

Aristedes Haynes fantasised about making a gun and killing a schoolboy, the Old Bailey heard.

Haynes, from Port Talbot, was given one year and seven months detention.

A second boy, 15, from Tonyrefail, Rhondda Cynon Taf, helped Haynes in a series of terror offences and criminal damage.

The two boys carried out several offences of racially and homophobically aggravated criminal damage, over several months throughout south Wales.

Among the damage was the extreme right-wing graffiti on a Windrush mural in Port Talbot and a smoke bomb which was rolled into The Queer Emporium, an LGBTQ+ business in Cardiff city centre.

A court order granting Haynes anonymity under Section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 was lifted post-sentencing following an application from the press. The 15-year-old's anonymity remains in place.

Aristedes Haynes had previously had anonymity before a court order was lifted

The anonymity order would have expired on Sunday when Haynes turns 18.

Haynes painted graffiti over the Port Talbot Windrush mural twice during 2022, the Old Bailey was previously told.

The vandalism appeared within hours of the mural being completed.

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The graffiti included swastikas, the words "Nazi zone", white supremacist symbol "1488", and a racial slur.

The mural depicts Donna Campbell, a nurse and daughter of the Windrush generation who died during the pandemic, and her mother Lydia.

The court heard how Haynes, who has been diagnosed as autistic, was referred to the Prevent de-radicalisation programme last spring by the air cadets.

He was expelled from the group last September, after he sent images to other cadets of himself with a swastika painted on his chest.

Haynes was also banned from Instagram for posting racist and Nazi images.

Volunteers quickly restored the mural after racist graffiti was daubed on it

After vandalising the mural the teenager bragged about his actions on messaging app Telegram, writing: "Check my art out."

He also was involved in setting off a smoke bomb at the Queer Emporium in Cardiff in October 2022, the court previously heard.

The 15-year-old boy appeared at Cardiff Youth Court on 15 August.

He pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage and four counts of racially aggravated criminal damage.

He was given a referral order for a year, a criminal behaviour order for two years and ordered to pay £100 compensation to The Queer Emporium.

Det Chief Insp Andrew Williams from Counter Terrorism Policing Wales said the investigation revealed Haynes was "also involved in the online distribution of extreme right-wing material, which clearly fell into the space governed by terrorism legislation".

"The offences were particularly abhorrent in nature and understandably caused upset to many people, both within the communities the boys targeted, and beyond."