Harborough mum forces teenagers to clean up their graffiti - and is praised by the town for her actions

The mother, who we are not naming, attracted widespread praise on social media after forcing her son and his friend to clean up graffiti they were responsible for and apologise to businesses affected.

Five buildings were damaged and three vehicles were sprayed with graffiti in incidents on the evening of Sunday June 14, which involved her son, aged 18, and another boy, who is not a family member and cannot be named due to his age.

She told the Harborough Mail: “My son had been with a friend while I had been out, and when I got back in the evening they were not at home.

“I started looking but could not find them, and because of this I was struggling to sleep.

“I was scrolling through Facebook at about 4am in the morning and saw a post of some graffiti on cars."

She knew instantly who was involved because the graffiti included her son's TikTok name.

When she confronted the teenagers about the incidents they told her they were ‘bored’ and that they had taken spray paint from the house.

“That did not wash with me,” she said.

“I told them instantly that I had owned up to knowing who they were, and that they would clean it up and pay for the damage.

“They were mortified at the idea and said it would be really embarrassing because lots of people would see them.

“As time went on, they became more aware of {the impact} of what they had done.

“I think the remorse came when I made them go into businesses and apologise in person.

“When they first went in to apologise they had their hoods up and heads down.

“After they did it a few times, you could tell they were genuinely sorry, and the businesses appreciated that they owned up and cleaned it up.”

Leicestershire Police said in a statement: “We received a report on Monday June 15 in relation to graffiti which had been sprayed in Market Harborough.

“Five buildings were damaged as well as three vehicles in the areas of Coventry Road, The Common, The Square and Manor Walk.

“Enquiries are ongoing in this investigation, and no arrests have been made.”

The mum told the Harborough Mail that the boys were due to go for a voluntary interview with police next week.

She added she was grateful for the positive reaction saying: “The whole town have been very supportive of how I have handled it.

“I did it because I believe it is the right thing to do as a parent, not because I was looking for public credit.

“I expected a backlash and the positive reaction blew my mind!

“I feel I have done all I can do as a parent but I would like to apologise, and I promise that nothing like this will happen again.”