Mysterious red painted crosses have been appearing on homes across England along with the word ‘brothel’ – families targeted by the vandals say they have been left in tears
Worried families say they have been left fearing for their safety after their homes were targeted with mysterious red painted crosses.
Blood-coloured paint was found splattered across a row of houses in Walthamstow, north-east London this week – marking only the latest report of this type of vandalism across England. Homes in Manchester, Liverpool, Huddersfield, Bradford, Reading, and a number of London boroughs have also fallen victim to similar attacks in the past few months. In several of the incidents the word ‘brothel’ or ‘borthel’ was daubed on the outside – leaving local people and police at a loss to explain who might be behind the vandalism and what their motive would be.
On Thursday March 13, and again on Tuesday, the vandals splattered homes on one street in Walthamstow in red paint and motor oil, and slipped handwritten notes through letterboxes claiming that the street was housing a brothel. Some of the properties targeted were home to elderly residents, and families with young children. There is no evidence that any of the addresses are brothels.
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One mum living on the road said she knew something had happened when she was alerted to a noise while feeding her daughter at 5am. Her husband went outside to find out what was going on – and discovered that their home, which the couple had bought only a few months earlier, was covered in red paint. She told the Waltham Forest Echo: “When I saw [the paint], I just cried. We thought we were so lucky when we weren’t one of the homes affected on Thursday. I’m at a loss. People on this street are really upset. My neighbour’s child thought the red paint was blood.”
It follows similar incidents reported so far this year in the Waltham Forest borough and other parts of London. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We are aware of a number of incidents whereby addresses in the borough of Waltham Forest have been criminally damaged with red paint in recent weeks. These incidents are being investigated by the local Safer Neighbourhoods Team to ensure all investigative leads are explored and support is provided to the victims of these incidents.
“At this stage there has been no arrest and enquiries into the circumstances continue, including to establish if there is a link to other incidents outside the local and London areas. Anyone with concerns or who has information that could assist is asked to call police on 101 or message @MetCC on X quoting CAD 1081/19FEB. Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.”
The first report of the red paint attacks came in Huddersfield in 2023, when the words “brothel 3” were painted on a property. A similar incident later that year involving a house in West Hampstead, London sparked fears that the graffiti could constitute an antisemitic hate crime, though police said they did not believe this to be the case. In Liverpool, three properties in the Georgian Quarter were targeted with red paint on February 20 this year.
Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, has asked the policing minister for a meeting to discuss the attacks – and said she believes a “possible connection” between them needs to be properly investigated. In a letter to Diane Johnson referencing press coverage of multiple similar red paint incidents, she wrote: “Despite this open source information, this pattern and the possible connection between these attacks does not as yet appear to have been made. Consequently, although there have been multiple requests for assistance from local residents, the police have told them they couldn’t attend the properties to investigate for a number of days.
“As yet there does not appear to have been any attempt to investigate who may be responsible. I understand these incidents were initially also misrepresented as a hate crime, but as this should have triggered an escalation in action it is not clear that this has had any impact on investigative activity either.
“I am still awaiting a response from my local police as to whether they have recorded these crimes, and to what action they are taking to tackle them so that I may update local residents. This lack of concern about the pattern of incidents is clearly unacceptable, given the repeated attacks and possible intimidation behind such events – as one local resident contacted my office stated ‘I’m extremely concerned we are not safe in this property anymore and worry what might happen next'”.