Criminals told 'You break it, you fix it'

Criminals have been warned that 'if you break it, you fix it' as part of a new poster campaign launched by London Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick.

The London-wide payback programme co-ordinated by the Mayor's office will be an alternative to short-term prison sentences for convicted criminals, with the view to them 'giving something back' to society.

The slogan for the proposal, 'You break it, you fix it', will appear on posters at 176 sites around London, including Kingston.

Paddick said: "We need to judge whether a sentence is tough or not from the criminals' perspective, not ours. Rather than sit in a cosy cell in prison for hours on end, criminals should be forced to clean up graffiti, repair broken fences, clear up fly-tipped rubbish and improve London's public spaces. Local people will decide what needs to be done to improve their local area, something local authorities can't currently afford to do."