Isle of Man Crimestoppers is offering a reward to help a police investigation into a spate of vandal attacks on motor vehicles in the south of the Island. Police are still trying to trace the vandals who sprayed more than 70 cars with a corrosive liquid causing damage to paintwork. It is believed that the culprit, or culprits, sprayed the liquid while driving past in a moving vehicle on October 7. Cars were damaged in Port Erin, Post St Mary, Bradda, Ballafesson and Castletown.

Anyone who provides information which leads to someone being arrested and charged with the offences will be eligible to claim participation in the ?1,000 reward offer. Isle of Man Crimestoppers provides a way for all members of the community to pass on information about crime anonymously by ringing the Crimestoppers hotline 0800 555111. All calls are handled by the UK Crimestoppers’ Call Centre, so Isle of Man callers can therefore be assured of their complete anonymity.

Information can also be given anonymously online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org, however this method is not included in the reward offer for technical reasons.

Stuart McCudden, Chair of Isle of Man Crimestoppers, said:

“These incidents of vandalism have caused damage running into tens of thousands of pounds and caused stress and inconvenience for the vehicle owners. Criminal activity such as this is clearly unacceptable in our Island community. We therefore hope that the offer of this reward will encourage anyone who has information about these vandal attacks - but who may not wish to divulge such information directly to the police - to pass on information anonymously to Crimestoppers.”

Anyone calling Crimestoppers will be given a code which will be the only way of identifying them any time they ring back or collect a reward. Anyone providing information, who wishes to progress the reward will be asked to contact Crimestoppers at a later date to find out if the information they have given has led to somebody being arrested and charged. If this is confirmed, the person who has provided information will be asked to name the branch of the bank where they want to collect the reward and the date when they want to collect it. On the agreed date, all they need to do is to go to the bank branch, quote their code, and they will be given their cash reward. They will not be asked to sign anything or to provide any proof of their identity.

Isle of Man Crimestoppers is part of the UK Crimestoppers 'family' and is an independent Manx charity dedicated to fighting crime across the Island. The charity focuses on local crime issues that are important to the community - improving crime detection and enhancing quality of life for residents and visitors alike. The charity also promotes the ‘Fearless’ website - www.fearless.org - aimed at encouraging more young people to help in the fight against crime.