The former police station in Tooting has been vandalised by squatters.

The Grade II listed building, located on Mitcham Road, can be seen with anti-covid graffiti and banners hanging from its walls.

Tooting's police team, @MPSTootingTnC , have said they are "absolutely gutted" with what is happening and described the acts as "shameful".

As seen from the pictures, one banner reads 'NO COVID VAX 4 KIDS' and 'UNMASK.ORG.UK', while there is clear graffiti across the face of the building, with many saying 'DOSE' or 'COVID'.

Tooting Ward Police Team said: "Absolutely gutted to see the pointless and damaging graffiti on Tooting Police Station.

"Working with owners to rectify.

"To the squatters residing within, please stop the mindless vandalism of an iconic, listed building. Shameful behaviour which detracts from your message. Stop."

The former police station - which closed in October 2020 - is due to be turned into flats after it was acquired by Telereal Trillium.

The property development group has also criticised the unauthorised occupation of the police station.

A spokesperson for the company said: "We are extremely concerned about the unauthorised occupation of the former Tooting Police Station and would assure residents that we commenced the necessary legal process to have the individuals removed as soon as we became aware of the situation last week, we also informed the Local Council to advise them and seek their assistance.

"The legal process is still ongoing and we are working tirelessly to regain possession. We do not yet know exactly how they managed to gain access as we believed the site was completely secure, however, we will be reviewing all of our existing security measures and installing any enhancements we feel necessary once we have regained possession."

Tooting MP, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, has also spoken about the situation on Twitter, saying : "please be assured that I'm aware of this issue, and have been in contact with local police about it throughout the day, who are working to solve the problem as quickly as possible."

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