Pensioner worried about ‘wronged’ grandchildren sprawls anti-Brexit graffiti around town

A 71-year-old woman fearing for her grandchildren’s future is behind a series of anti-Brexit graffiti scrawled over a town’s walls and fences.

Hazel Jones, a retired teacher from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was caught on camera by a local resident as she scribbled ‘Brexit is based on lies. Reject it’ on the wall of a school playground.

Facebook user Carla Petts, who took the 30-second clip, said she was astounded discover an elderly woman was behind all the slogans.

She wrote: ‘Keep seeing this message appear on this wall. Thought it must be some youths writing it. Today I spotted the culprit. What a woman!’

Ms Jones has since revealed she is the woman in the video and has been writing the slogans since the Brexit referendum in 2016.

In an interview to The Times, Ms Jones explained she spread the messages because she believes her four grandchildren had been ‘wronged’ by her generation.

The widow usually wakes up early in the morning to write the slogans as she walks into town.

She said: ‘Had I known I was being filmed I would have dressed up a bit more.’

Ms Jones does not see herself as a vandal because she only uses chalk, which can easily be washed away by rain.

She also stressed she would never etch the provocative messages on private property.

‘We all have to do our bit and I think it’s very important that people are made aware of the imminent catastrophe that we will be faced with if Brexit goes through,’ she added.

‘My generation has fouled up the prospects of younger people, so it’s my grandchildren that I’m doing it for.’

Ms Jones believes she was only caught on August 2 because she left slightly later than usual.

She says she will probably stop her graffiti campaign because her children are worried there may be reprisals.

The remainer added: ‘If the government chooses to deliberately impose on its own population food shortages, job losses and disruption of medical supplies, they really need not fear old ladies pointing this out.’

Wakefield backed Brexit by a huge majority, with 66.3 per cent voting leave against 33.6 per cent opting to stay in the European Union.