Could It Have Been The Usual Suspect After All?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/403630/Vile-vandal-who-daubed-Islam-on-Bomber-Command-war-memorial-caught-on-film

/// The man, of African appearance, is captured moving in and out of the shadows to spray the monument in London in the early hours on Monday. ///

[sp1814]

^^^

LOL @ ludwig.

[naomi24]

SP, ditto that. :o)

[anotheoldgit]

jake-the-peg

/// I certainly don't think an organisation like the EDL - lead by a man with a criminal conviction for headbutting a fellow member - would flinch from doing something like this ///

Er? Please explain why a person who had head-butted a fellow member, would not flinch from defacing a Bomber Command Memorial?

Perhaps there are others which you might suggest did it?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9100484/MP-Eric-Joyce-arrested-and-suspended-from-Labour-party-over-House-of-Commons-brawl.html

[sp1814]

AOG

Looking at the picture, I would be very surprised if the EDL were indeed involved in the defacing.

However, I don't think this can be described as 'the usual suspect', because I think that most would not immediately think of black Africans as Muslims.

But then there's the question of exactly what is it that marks the man out to be 'of African appearance'???

What would that be, with regard to the poor quality of the CCTV image???

[andy-hughes]

i am unsure who the 'Usual Suspect' is - do militant extemists have a go-to street artists to do their grafitti for them?

As to the man's 'African' appearence - all i could glean from my PC image is that he is possibly non-white, but that does not in any reasonable way mean he is 'African'.

[jno]

naomi, I also think the face looks as if it's been photoshopped; it appears to have a partly opaque grey oval around it - more the colour of the floor than of the back of his head. (If the Express did this it doesn't mean the police wouldn't have the original.) It may be an optical illusion caused by lighting, or it may be a sort of pixillation for legal reasons. But whatever it is, there isn't enough in the photo as printed to support a conclusion that he's of African appearance.

[naomi24]

jno, ah, you've found it. He looks African to me - but time will tell.

[Octavius]

I suppose it implies he is black, but he looks kind of grey to me. Isn't CCTV footage crap for definition.

He seems to take an awfully long time about it, do you think the phone call was to check he got the right place and that the money had been transfered to his bank?

[jno]

naomi, I haven't necessarily found it at all. The picture is too opaque. It could equally be semi-full face, side view, or just from the back (as suggested by the position of his feet). All I can say for sure is that the back of his head (which could be just his hair) is brown - perhaps dark brown, but that could just be a lighting effect too. Nothing of African appearance.

[naomi24]

jno, oh right. It’s just that you said ‘What little I can see of the back of his head on my screen is darkish brown.’, so I assumed you were looking at the back of his head. A logical assumption.

I do have a brand new widescreen – perhaps it’s clearer than yours.

[jno]

I was looking at the back of his head, because that was the only part of his body I could be (fairly) sure I was seeing. The rest's just too low-res. This may be the CCTV, or the Express, or both. But I'll be surprised if they can make an identification from it, and - on the basis of the pictures they've printed - they haven't convinced me even of his race.

[naomi24]

jno, they don't really need to convince you do they, but as I said, I do have a brand new widescreen – perhaps it’s clearer than yours. Anyway, time will tell. Whatever he is, I hope they catch him.

[ChillDoubt]

Whoever did it is vermin, nothing less.

[sp1814]

@naomi24:

"but as I said, I do have a brand new widescreen"

Show off.

[EcclesCake]

I attended a private show at Philip Jacksons studio whilst he was creating the Bomber Command monument.

I witnessed a number of veterans who were considerably moved by the majestic beauty, power and emotion that the very talented sculptor evoked in his work.

I hope the work is swiftly restored for them.

[naomi24]

SP, //Show off. //

Ha ha! Ain't I just!

[dave50]

The vast majority of muslim extremists have dark skin. I'm sorry if some on here find that hard to swallow, you can bend over backwards and tie yourselves in knots over it with excuses and obscure reasons why it may not be the case but I'm afraid it's true.

[pretty_snowdrop]

Dave, just because the mass majority of 'muslim extremists have dark skin', it doesnt mean than the mass majority of people with 'dark skin' are muslim extremists.

[Gromit]

Africa is about 50% Christian.

The figure does look dark coloured but how anyone can determine African, or even Muslim from the footage is debatable.

It certainly does not look like a typical EDL member. But I am not yet 100% convinced it is the 'Usual Suspect'.