Man Arrested For Attempting To Destroy Statue At BBC Headquarters Made By Pedophile Sculptor (Photos)
A man has been arrested for climbing up onto BBC’s London headquarters in an alleged attempt to damage a statue by the artist, Eric Gill.
The statue, which depicts Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, was created in the 1930s by Eric Gill, who is said to have sexually assaulted his two daughters.
Metropolitan Police officers were called on Wednesday evening, to Broadcasting House in Portland Street, following reports a man had used a ladder to reach the 10ft tall figures above the building’s entrance.
The area was cordoned off, and London Ambulance Service paramedics attended the scene. The man was finally brought down after about four hours.
BBC staff reported hearing the man shout “paedophile” as he struck the statue at Broadcasting House, which is connected to New Broadcasting House, BBC’s main headquarters.
Gill’s abuse came to light in the 1980s, following the publication of an autobiography claiming he had sexually assaulted his daughters and participated in other ‘disturbing sexual acts’. The evidence for the revelations came from Gill’s private diaries.
There has since been a campaign to have the statue removed for several years. Nearly 2,500 people previously signed a petition demanding the removal of the sculpture on the website of political activist group, 38 Degrees.
In footage of the incident shared online, a man could be seen repeatedly hitting the leg of the smaller figure of two which make up the statue.
Broken pieces from the statue and dust could be seen falling from the BBC building as the man continued to hammer away at the statue of Ariel and Prospero.
Two men were seen trying to negotiate with him while he periodically stopped hammering to take a break.
Outside BBC right now a man is trying to smash up Eric Gill statue while another man live streams talking about paedophiles. Gill’s horrific crimes are well known. But is this the way? pic.twitter.com/IzFUBIJfwT
— Katie Razzall (@katierazz) January 12, 2022
Images captured at the scene tonight appear to show the penis of the child in the statue has been removed.
The incident comes after, four protesters were cleared of criminal damage for tearing down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston during Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020.
