Just 14 vandals are responsible for the graffiti plague in Brighton and Hove, according to local police.

Now a major strategy to combat the problem is being drawn up in a bid to catch the offenders and clean up the city.

Chief Inspector Peter Mills, head of operations at Brighton, said officers had conducted a survey of tags and concluded that the majority of graffiti was daubed on walls and street furniture by just 14 people.

He said: "My message to the 14 that persist in spraying the streets of Brighton is we shall catch you and it won't be so amusing when you are standing before a court.

"Their sense of humour tends to go when they are sitting in the cell with four bare walls looking at them. All of a sudden it is not so funny."

Coun Christine Simpson, chairman of the council's environment scrutiny board, said the council was reappraising how it tackled graffiti following widespread public concern.

She said: "This is a very nasty version of vandalism. It is something I find totally offensive. It degrades our environment.

"It is something we cannot allow to grow unchecked."

City centre manager Tony Mernagh said a strategy was currently being drawn up to defeat the vandals and would be unveiled in the next few weeks.

Simon Fanshawe, who spearheaded Brighton and Hove's successful bid to become a city, said graffiti gave the impression that the streets were not safe.

He said: "Let's clean up our city."