A “COWARDLY” vandal has ruined a tribute to music stars including Amy Winehouse and John Lennon by scrawling all over it.

Their faces appear on a giant new artwork at a music shop.

It caused a stir among those walking past with people stopping to stop and take pictures and selfies.

But within days. a graffiti tagger defaced the mural in an act of “childish, wanton destruction”.

The art had been commissioned by the Guitar, Amp and Keyboard Centre (Gak) in North Road, Brighton and was unveiled on Thursday last week.

On Tuesday, the vandal who signed off as “Sinista” was captured on CCTV at 6.20am going past and daubing over the work which had been done by an artist called The Postman.

The Gak centre has been open as an independent music trader for 25 years and retail manager Dan Ward said the art was meant to inspire people with paintings of singers, guitarists and keyboard players.

Pictures of musicians including Blondie, Nile Rodgers and Robert Smith were also defaced.

Dan said: “As soon as I saw it, it was like being punched in the stomach.

“The unwritten rule of street art is that you don’t mess with anything that’s been commissioned on a private wall. This was not art. This was just straight up vandalism. But this guy has no respect or talent for anything. He just wants to tear something down. We have invested in our city at this difficult time and he has just blacked it out and scrawled all over it. It is a real shame.”

He said the tagger was “cowardly” after deleting a social media account when challenged.

Dan said: “I wonder what the guy’s motivation is? This is childish, wanton destruction of a commissioned piece of community art that was supposed to brighten up our lovely community.

“Almost everyone walking past was stopping to take pictures and selfies. Everyone was responding to it, it was positive. I can only think it was jealousy and lack of talent. When we asked why, he ran. He is a coward.”

He said the matter has not been reported to the police, as the emergency services are under pressure with the coronavirus crisis.

Instead he said the damage would be left in place for people to see, but will be repaired in future.

Dan said: “We will not be intimidated or beaten by it.”