Sefton Council leader Cllr Marion Atkinson has told the Liverpool Echo that the authority "we won't tolerate this filth" after the appearance of racist graffiti and swastikas at a number of locations.

"We're not having it"

Speaking to the Echo’s Political Editor Liam Thorp, after the paper received complaints about racist messages, Cllr Atkinson said: "We're not having it".

She said: "I am extremely disturbed by this disgusting graffiti. This is absolutely unacceptable, and we will not be tolerating this filth.

"We have had these hate crimes reported to us by local residents who are as outraged and disgusted by what they have seen as we are, and we will be taking action to remove it."

Outraged and disgusted

“These are hate crimes and we will be working closely with the police to work to make sure whoever did this is caught."

A Merseyside Police spokesperson told the Echo: "We will not tolerate racist and hateful graffiti being committed in our community and we are carrying out enquiries to find the perpetrators.

You can read the full Liverpool ECHO article here.

Removed

The Council has removed or covered the offensive graffiti and messages, which was our first priority.

Where possible, we remove it but where surfaces and structures would be damaged by the high pressure jetting required, we have to paint over it using materials that will prevent show-through.