Criminal charges bring alleged solo ‘Pam the Bird’ artist back to earth
The graffiti artist behind the “Pam the bird” tags plastered across Melbourne city landmarks was working alone, police say.
A 21-year-old Yarraville man is facing more than 50 criminal charges, including criminal damage, burglary, shop theft and theft of a motor vehicle. He will appear in court on Friday afternoon.
‘Pam the Bird’ graffiti on the side of the shot tower in Clifton Hill on Friday.Credit: Chris Hopkins
In one of the most high-profile incidents, police allege the man scaled and defaced the heritage-listed Flinders Street station clock tower on July 10 last year.
It’s alleged he is also responsible for graffiti plastered across the rail network as well as the “Cheese Stick” column on CityLink, the Nine building in Docklands, and concrete silos on Mercer Street in Geelong.
Police said the latest incident was on January 20, where “Pam” appeared across the Novotel Hotel in South Wharf.
At a press conference on Friday, Detective Sergeant Jason Wombwell said police believed the man was operating alone.
“We believe one person is responsible for that bird, and that person is in custody and has been charged with those offences,” he said.
Wombwell said police had been tracking the alleged offender for “quite some time”, and it was “old-fashioned, hard police work” that led to his arrest.
