Man denies causing £150k worth of damage to statue at BBC headquarters
David Chick, 58, of Bozeat, Northamptonshire, is accused of damaging the Grade-II listed statue in Portland Place, central London on May 20 2023.
A man has pleaded not guilty to attacking a statue outside the BBC headquarters, causing more than £150,000 worth of damage.
David Chick, 58, of Bozeat, Northamptonshire, is accused of damaging the Grade-II listed statue in Portland Place, central London on May 20 2023.
The statue, which depicts Prospero and Ariel from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, was created by Eric Gill, who is said to have sexually abused two of his daughters.
According to court documents, the statue suffered £153,014.18 of damage from the incident.
Gill was among the most prominent sculptors of the 20th century until his death in 1940, but his diaries, published much later, detailed the sexual abuse of his daughters.
Chick was already facing trial for criminal damage to the same statue relating to a previous incident on January 12 2022.
Judge David Tomlinson granted an application by prosecutor Nathan Palmer to join the two matters together during a plea hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
“They are two offences of not just the same or very similar nature but, in effect, identical offences,” the judge said.
The defendant, wearing a black jumper with a red Spiderman logo in the dock, spoke only to confirm his name and deny criminal damage to property over £5,000.
The judge released Chick on conditional bail, ordering the defendant not to go within 100 metres of the statue.
A trial date was set at the same court for May 6 next year.
