Police believe they have snared one of Oxford's most prolific graffiti artists, responsible for defacing hundreds of buildings in the city with the words 'detest' and 'glitch'.

Officers caught the 19-year-old man, of Bullingdon Road, east Oxford, when they arrested him for smoking cannabis in Cowley Road.

During the routine stop-and-search, officers found the man had stickers featuring the word 'detest' - a well-known Oxford 'tag' - which led to them unearthing a haul of graffiti paraphernalia at his house.

On Sunday, police arrested him on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

He was released without charge and bailed until June.

During the raid on his house, stencils, books and scores of designs of the words "detest" and "glitch", like that on the side of the former Gala Bingo building in Cowley Road, were discovered.

A small amount of cannabis was also found.

Pc Rupert Jones, of Cowley police station, said: "Criminal damage is a serious problem and one that we are dedicated to stop.

"Graffiti may be seen by some to be a harmless form of art, however, the vast majority of the public do not think so ":It's important to remember it is a crime and we will deal with it where we have the evidence to do so.

"This is a strong warning to those involved that we will not tolerate this behaviour."

Oxford City Council's graffiti removal team has already used high-pressure water jets to wash away more than 100 'detest' and 'glitch' graffiti slogans across the city, but scores more remain.

The council is only allowed to remove graffiti from public buildings and has to get permission from the owners of non-council properties.

More than £100,000 is spent every year cleaning up graffiti tags using the latest steam-cleaning equipment to clean all racist, sexist and offensive graffiti within 24 hours.

All other graffiti in the city centre is removed within five days, while the authority pledges to tackle vandalism in areas outside the city centre within 10 days.

A city council spokesman said: "We are pleased the police have made this arrest.

"We will continue to eradicate graffiti from our streets.

"Neighbourhood action groups will be supporting the police and council staff to report graffiti."

An Oxford police spokesman added: "Criminal damage is on the increase and preventing it is a distinct priority for us.

"Graffiti like this is a prime example of preventable criminal damage."

Offensive graffiti can be reported to the City Works department on 01865 252900