MINDLESS yobs ran off after defacing the oldest Roman wall in the country.

The gang of about eight people were caught red-handed painting tags which include the words ‘smoke’ and ‘crack’ on the Colchester Roman wall on Monday evening.

But before they could be caught, the group fled the area.

Other Roman information signs were also targeted by the group.

Colchester Council, which now owns and maintains the first century monument, has launched an investigation.

The damage has also been reported to Essex Police by Castle Park rangers.

Darius Laws, Colchester councillor for Castle, spotted the vandals at about 5.30pm on Monday as he was going to watch Wimbledon on the big screen in Castle Park.

The Tory labelled the vandals’ actions “utterly disgraceful”.

He added: “I had just turned the corner into the pathway which runs between Lower and Upper Castle Park when I saw them.

“I was actually wearing my council lanyard and I think they clocked that and as I was getting up to them, they scarpered.

“I could see they went up to the entrance to Roman Road and Castle Road and my aims was actually to get a picture of them but if I’m honest I just didn’t feel comfortable confronting the group.

“There were maybe seven or eight of them aged between 14 and 20 - they weren’t just teenagers, one of the guy looked easily 20 - it’s utterly disgraceful.”

Mr Laws added: “I loitered around for a while to see if someone might come along as a bit of back up but in the end I decided against it.”

Mr Laws did contact the Castle Park ranger office and reported the vandalism.

He added: “I suppose it’s difficult because if I saw that happening in the High Street, you would just get on one of the shops’ radio and get the description out there and they would probably be caught pretty easily.

“But we haven’t got that kind of coverage in Castle Park.”

He added: “I firmly believe these people should be made an example of.

“They won’t have cared it was the longest and oldest wall in the country - to them it is just an old wall.

“I know there has to be a carrot and stick approach but I am now of the opinion there is an antisocial behaviour problem in certain parts of the town and it is not confined to people having one or two too many shandies on a Friday or Saturday night.”

A Colchester Council spokesman confirmed the incident had been reported but the authority is waiting for an inspection to be carried our museums service staff before the graffiti is removed.

Colchester’s Roman Wall is the oldest and longest surviving town wall in Britain. It was built to defend Colchester after the Boudican rebellion in AD60.