A man filmed vandalising a wall at the Colosseum has bagged to be forgiven.
Ivan Dimitrov, 27, faces up to five years in prison and/or a €15,000 fine.
He was with his girlfriend Hayley when he took out a set of keys and carved “Ivan and Hayley 23” on the 2,000-year-old monument.
The couple were on a three-week tour of Europe when they stopped off in Rome.
By trawling through CCTV footage and hotel records, Italy’s Carabinieri tracked them down in Bulgaria on June 30th.
Major Roberto Martina, a police spokesman 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.
“He 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.”
A prosecutor will decide on the next steps.