SATELLITE technology is joining the war on graffiti.

In what is thought to be one of the first schemes of its kind in the country, Stockport council is using satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) to pinpoint the spots where individual daubers are operating.

The police and council then use the information to catch the most prolific offenders.

A database of individual "tags'' - the signs or words each vandal uses to identify his handiwork - will be stored in a record that can be used in court.

Graffiti ruins the appearance of neighbourhoods and costs councils tens of thousands of pounds to clean away every year.

Whenever graffiti is reported it will be photographed and logged on the system. The computer will alert the council's clean-up team.

Records will also be kept of the type of paint or marker pen used and shopkeepers will be encouraged to stop selling them to suspected vandals.

A council spokesman said: "Using global positioning technology we can note where graffiti is digitally and put its exact location on a map.

Pinpoint

"It helps our clean-up teams and allows us to spot patterns regarding individual tags. The idea is to use the system as a tool to detect people committing these offences.

"Just sticking things on a map on the wall only allows us to identify clusters in an area. This allows us to pinpoint particular roads.

"When someone is caught, we can use the database to identify previous offences even after the graffiti has been cleaned up."

The Manchester Evening News has previously reported how a teenager from Stockport became Greater Manchester's most notorious young graffiti nuisance.

Jack Jones, 17, of Heaton Norris, who used the tag Klutz, caused £30,000 damage to railway stations and trains and was so prolific that he was banned from all stations in the country.

In November, Jones was sentenced to a six-month detention and training order and banned from carrying spray cans or markers for two years.

British Transport Police mounted a two-year undercover operation to catch Jones, who was a member of three graffiti "crews" called PNS, TSI and 730.

Chief Supt Peter Driver, of Stockport police, said of Stockport's new war on the daubers: "The database will prove to be a very useful tool in combating graffiti which is a problem across the borough.

"We are looking forward to working with the council to get the most from the database and ultimately bring offenders to justice and reduce graffiti."