CCTV footage appears to show the vile vandal who sprayed xenophobic graffiti along the front of a Boscombe pub.

Police are investigating the act of “racially-aggravated criminal damage” which took place overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday at the Riviera in Boscombe precinct, and which also saw insulting remarks sprayed onto the nearby ‘Tardis’ police box.

The footage shows a hooded man with an aerosol can apparently spraying the front of the pub over a period of some five minutes.

He appears to conclude by spraying over the camera itself.

Regulars at the pub have rallied round co-owner Tomasz Jodlowiec, 43, who fears he may have been the target of a disaffected punter who had been ejected.

Mr Jodlowiec has run the pub for just over a year after the former Sugar and Spice closed, during which time he has only once before been the victim of insulting remarks about his origins in Poland, by a homeless man he asked to move out of the pub’s porch.

He said: “Most people here are very friendly, that is why I was so surprised.

“I thought it might have been somebody we kicked out of the pub.

“Most people in Bournemouth don’t think that way. After it happened I got so much support from local people and offers to help remove the graffiti.”

Patrons Frankie Scully, 62, and John Riley, 66, were full of scorn for the vandal.

“I walked by and saw Tomasz outside with his missus clearly crying, I gave them a hug,” said Mr Scully.

“We don’t have much of that sort of racism around here. My missus is going to buy them a card and we will get all the regulars to sign to show our respect.”

Mr Riley added: “When I saw it on Wednesday it hit me like a brick wall, it’s pathetic and wrong.”

The graffiti, described by police as “particularly nasty and hateful”, has since been cleaned away in the area.

Contact the force on 101 quoting reference 28:207.