A Brit who was caught vandalising ancient walls on the 2,000-year-old Colosseum in Rome has begged Italy to forgive him
Ivan Dimitrov, 27, from Bristol, was with his girlfriend Hayley Bracey, 33, when he scribbled their names into the wall. One furious tourist spotted him scrawling "Ivan and Hayley 23" using a set of keys and contacted the cops.
The pair were on a three week trip across Europe when they stopped in the Italian capital, reports the Mirror Online.
By trawling through CCTV footage and hotel records, Italy's Carabinieri tracked them down, pinpointing them in Bulgaria on Friday, June 30.
Carabinieri spokesman and Major Roberto Martina, Dimitrov, also known as Ivan Hawkins, shared his "sincere remorse" for his destructive behaviour.
Major Martina said; "He told us he was very upset by what he had done, and he kept apologising for it, I think he was worried about the consequences of any trial and we explained that he could be jailed for between two and five years and be fined up to 15,000 Euro."
Californian tourist Ryan Lutz noticed Dimitrov defacing the ancient landmark and decided he could not ignore it.
Speaking of their call, Major Martina added: "He had contacted us after we secured his mobile telephone from hotel records and left a message for him to call us. He was naturally worried about the legal implications, and these were all explained to him.
"We didn’t ask him why he did it, that will be for a judge to hear, we just told him that he was a suspect and was part of the investigation. The girl is not part of any complaint so is an innocent party as far as we are concerned although technically, she could be seen as an accessory."
The officer continued, saying that a prosecutor will decide on his fate, but that it's an open and shut case due to the video evidence, the MailOnline reports.
In the clip, an angry Mr Lutz is heard telling Dimitrov: "Are you serious man ? That is f***ed up man. Stupid a*****e."
An image shows Dimitrov in Rome turning and smiling, before continuing to scratch their names into the wall.
At the time, a Carabinieri statement read: "Following investigations, subsequent to the complaint presented by the Colosseum Park Authority, the Carabinieri of the Command of Rome Piazza Venezia, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor of Rome, have identified, through traditional investigations and photographic comparison, the person seriously suspected of be responsible for engraving his own name and that of his partner, at the Colosseum, filming the scene, then published on social media."
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