Protester beheaded statue of Iron Lady

A POLITICAL protester was yesterday warned he faced jail for publicly decapitating a £150,000 statue of Baroness Thatcher.

Paul Kelleher, 37, said he felt driven to carry out the decapitation both to protect his son and draw attention to the dangers facing the world.

After learning the 8ft Italian marble sculpture was going on show at London’s Guildhall, the father-of-one carried out an initial “recce” before returning a few days later with a cricket bat under his raincoat.

But the towering likeness of the former premier, nicknamed the Iron Lady during her years in power, proved as robust as the original, and easily shrugged off the first blow to the head.

Undeterred, he promptly snatched up a metal pole from a nearby crowd control barrier and resumed his assault.

This time, a well-aimed roundhouse at the work of art’s “big nose” sent everything from the neck upwards sailing through the air.

Kelleher, of Loring Road, Isleworth, West London, who never disputed what he did, showed no reaction as a jury of five women and seven men took less than an hour to reject his claims he had a “lawful excuse” for the

attack.

They unanimously convicted him of one count of criminal damage on July 3 last year.

Judge George Bathurst-Norman told him: “I’m not going to deal with you today. I’m going to order a pre-sentence report.

“I am making no promises as to how I am going to deal with you, because prison obviously has to be an option.”

Kelleher, who was allowed bail and told to be back at court on February 19, replied: “Fair enough, sir.”

In Kelleher’s view, the statue represented the ills of the world’s political system.

When interviewed by police, he admitted: “I knew I would have to come and take off its head.”

Kelleher, accompanied by his young son, first reconnoitred the gallery.

Two days later, after arranging a babysitter and buying a Slazenger V600 cricket bat, returned to the gallery. Once inside, he waited for his “window of opportunity.”

Anxious not to “scare” any passing art lover, he “eventually saw his moment and seized it, running at the statue with his cricket bat and landing a blow on its head.”