A THURROCK man died under the wheels of a Tube train during a graffiti tagging mission.

Bradley Chapman, 21, of Chafford Hundred, and his friend Dan Elgar, 19, a father of one from Boscome Road, Southend, died instantly when they were hit by the District line train on Friday, January 12.

They and two of their friends had been caught spraying graffiti on another train in Barking, and been told to stop by security guards.

Bradley and Dan ran off into the path of a train.

The other two men were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and have now been bailed. They are Nick Davison, 24, of Meadway, Westcliff, and another 25-year-old man, who has not been named.

The four taggers are reported to have planned on "bombing" the station with graffiti, covering as many surfaces as possible with their tags.

Bradley's friends in the graffiti fraternity have been paying their tributes to him by using his tag, "OZONE", which has been spotted around Thurrock this week.

British Transport Police are still trying to piece together what happened on the night of the tragedy. The investigation is focusing on CCTV pictures and forensic evidence.

The two arrested men are due to report back to police on February 27.

Tributes to Bradley have also been posted on websites, with one friendsaying the Gazette sister paper, the Echo's site website, saying: "He was one of the nicest people I knew.

I didn't have anything to do with that side of his life and was against him going to dangerous places to do it. I'm just sad he's gone and I'll never see him again."

The young men's death comes just two weeks after Thurrock councillors clashed over graffiti in the borough.

Attacking ruling Tory group cabinet member Garry Hague, whose portfolio of responsibility includes cleaning up the borough, Grays councillor Val Cook Morris was critical of the council for being slow to clean up graffiti and for not looking at ways to offer the graffiti artists the opportunity to express their work in approved locations.

After Mr Chapman's death councillor Morris Cook said: "Bradley and his friend's death is a devastating tragedy for his family and my heart goes out to them. Bradley's interest in tagging cost him his life.

"I hope it will be a deterrent to others tempted to spray trains.

"His interest in tagging did not make Bradley a bad person, and had opportunities existed locally for him to practice and develop his interest safely and within the law, he might not have been succumbed to the temptation and take the risk that cost his life and caused family and friends so much heartache."