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Mobile art gallery in Bath destroyed by vandals in "piecemeal" attacks

Police officers investigating the destruction of a mobile art gallery in Bath have revealed it was carried out by a variety of vandals who targeted it throughout the night. The Art Box Gallery was put up at the bottom of Milsom Street for a two-day exhibition. But on Saturday night it was vandalised beyond repair in an incident that has been reported to police. Investigating officers, who have examined CCTV, say that rather than it being damaged by one group of people, it was gradually destroyed by different offenders throughout the night. This included people urinating against it and vomiting inside the wreckage. City centre Inspector Steve Mildren said police had already spoken to two of those responsible, but had now released two CCTV images in the hope that members of the public recognised other offenders. He said: "This was simply a stupid act of drunken vandalism that, thanks to our council partners in the CCTV operating centre, was caught on camera. "We have clear pictures of the people believed responsible and have already identified and spoken to two of them, and will be dealing with them through the criminal justice process. "We are also releasing images of others we believe are involved and asking the community in helping identify them. "Whilst it appears that this was a sustained attack on the shed to demolish it, in reality the damage was caused piecemeal over a prolonged period by different people, eventually causing it to collapse." Organisers of the gallery say they are 'gutted' by the incident. All the artwork – some of which is by students at Bath Spa University – is safe, because it had been removed that night. But the exhibition could not go ahead on its second day, Sunday. Lise Deadman, who launched the project with Emily Finlay, said their intention was to make art accessible to everyone, with a moveable gallery which could display exhibitions "anywhere and everywhere". They discovered the damage at 9.45am, along with vomit from drunken revellers. "We are devastated by what has happened. We spent a lot of money and put so much hard work into preparing the shed, organising and curating the exhibition. We just can't believe someone or a group of people could be so heartless and reckless. "It has been reported to the police, and we've been reassured that there is CCTV in that area so hopefully the vandals might be found. We would be so grateful if anyone who possibly saw anything could let the police know." Witnesses should call 101.

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