An army veteran has studied for years the act of 'gunfire graffiti'.

Andrew Rigsby, 63, coined the term which comes as a result of shooters using high powered weapons to shoot road signs in rural communities.

Mr Rigsby, who served in the army throughout the 1980s and was also a victim of a shooting in Spain around the same time said the number of cases of this in Maldon and Burnham was "alarming".

He said: "I came to the area expecting it to be extremely clean of any gunfire.

"I was very surprised by what I found when I arrived."

Mr Rigsby discovered gunshots holes in road signs throughout the district including three shotgun blast and bullet holes in signs near to Tollesbury and Tolleshunt D'Arcy, and further shotgun blasts on warning signs in Goldhanger, and near to the Osea Leisure Park entrance in Goldhanger Road.

He originally came to the area as part of an investigation into the White House Farm shooting in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, which took place in August 1985.

In that incident Nevill and June Bamber were found shot in their farmhouse, along with daughter Sheila Caffell, and her six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas.

Jeremy Bamber was the only surviving family member, aged 24 at the time.

Bamber was handed life imprisonment after he was convicted for five counts of murder.

Mr Rigsby, who now lives on the Isle of Wight, working as a performance driving coach begun studying cases of this nature in 2008 and as a result started noticing cases of gunfire in rural communities.

After more than a decade studying the issue already, he is no longer troubled by the issue.

He said: "It does not frighten me and I'm not surprised by it anymore, I'm used to seeing this stuff.

"As a result of my past career and experiences I have a bit more of a realistic understanding of what these things are all about.

"I spent time in Northern Ireland working on clandestine operations and I have also been shot at in the past - I suppose I would be the last person you would expect to study this."

Mr Rigsby published his first book, Gunfire Graffiti - Overlooked Gun Crime in the UK was published in 2012.

Before publishing the book, he carried out a host of ballistic research with Cranfield University in Oxfordshire.

He is currently preparing a new book, Bullet Path, which will focus on a host of killings and gun terror attacks such as the White House Farm Murders.

However, despite many years studying the issue, Mr Rigsby is still unsure as to what is to blame for it.

He said: "I do not think anyone truly knows where these issues come from.

"I do not think it is anything to do with the rural communities because these incidents are on road sides.

"I believe that in the case of this area, these people are in vehicles, which does not put them as real dwellers from Maldon district."

To find out more about Mr Rigsby's work, go to gunfire-graffiti.co.uk.