April Williams's defence of graffiti (Opinion, April 20) was an interesting addition to the debate but was deeply flawed from the first paragraph to the last.

The right of every property owner or tenant to decide upon the decoration of his or her own property is a right not only enshrined in law but also in common sense.

If someone comes along and sprays graffiti on that property without permission, he or she is breaking the law and, as such, is a criminal.

Let's be clear about this - graffiti artists are criminals and when they are caught, they will be prosecuted.

The business community is urging police and magistrates to make such prosecution automatic, regardless of circumstances or absence of previous convictions.

The various eloquently-presented excuses for such activity postulated in April's letter - "valid art form", "learning independence", "asserting the individual nature of the city" - are nothing more than that: excuses that do not even begin to justify criminal behaviour. The tolerance she is advocating leads to lawlessness, chaos and anarchy.

She is also wrong when she states that "repainting is not an effective way to tackle" graffiti. Indeed, time and again, research has shown that painting out or removing graffiti within 24 hours of it appearing is the only way to tackle it.

The Business Forum would urge everyone to adopt this tactic and to report new graffiti to the police.

April ends her letter with a plea for mutual "respect for both sides of the argument".

In view of the obvious lack of respect shown by the average graffiti artist, I assume that was a joke.

-Tony Mernagh, Brighton City Centre Business Forum