Baily Mail, of shame
Tourist faces 10 years in Thai jail for ‘Scouse’ graffiti at ancient site
AS A guest in a foreign land, it’s never wise to deface a treasured ancient monument – particularly under the gaze of CCTV cameras.
But Liverpudlian Lee Furlong plumbed new depths of stupidity when he spraypainted his name on an 800-year-old Thai fortress.
And as if that wasn’t enough, the drunken backpacker also misspelt the word ‘Scouse’, signing himself ‘Scousse Lee’ before returning to change the graffiti to ‘Scouser Lee’.
Furlong, 23, is now awaiting trial in two weeks’ time and faces up to ten years in prison for using a can of black spray paint to deface the Tha Phae gate in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, at 4am on Thursday.
Having been filmed on CCTV, he was arrested later that day with Canadian Brittney Schneider, 23, who was with him at the time and sprayed ‘B’ on a separate line.
Police took them back to the site – which had already been cleaned – and they confessed to the crime, pointing at the area of wall they had defaced.
Furlong admitted yesterday he was ‘terrified’ about the consequences he faced.
Speaking by phone from his hotel, he said: ‘I’d been drinking all day – I was really, really drunk. I saw the spray can and just picked it up. I didn’t know what I was doing.
‘When I woke up the police were here. They took me to the station. I’m terrified of what will happen now.’
Furlong, whose passport is being held by police, added: ‘I had been having such an amazing time here. I’m just devastated that I’ve done something so stupid.
‘I’m sorry to all the Thai people that have been offended by it. I’ve been an idiot.’