Damage in Maygrove Road last month

POLICE have confirmed the repeated paint attacks in West Hampstead are not anti-Semitic hate crimes.

Over the last few months, two properties in Maygrove Road and one in Iverson Road have been dunked in coloured paint during the night.

Each time the tag “brothel” appears nearby the affected house. Residents are shocked by the linked events and no arrests have been made.

After the second attack, police said they were investigating concerns that the paint splattering was motivated by anti-Semitism.

But last week Jack Rowlands, Neighbourhood Superintendent for Camden and Islington, told the New Journal the police “are confident” it’s not.

He added that he had heard claims that one flat in a HMO property in the area was suspected of being used for prostitution. Police have contacted the landlord who said they didn’t know about the alleged claims.

Supt Rowlands said: “There’s no evidence that it’s a brothel. There’s a real gap in legislation because the actual thing of prostitution isn’t illegal, it’s the soliciting and the pimping which is illegal. It’s a grey area.”

He added they are trying to catch the paint perpetrators for criminal damage.

Supt Rowlands said: “We’ve got images of the suspects but they’re not good enough to circulate. Now we’ve got covert cameras up there to try to capture vehicles and more offenders. We’ve tasked night duty response teams to do patrols up there.”