Thatcher: Broken statue 'sabotage'

The statue includes "a good big handbag"

LONDON, England -- A 37-year-old theatre producer pleaded not guilty to smashing the head off a £150,000 marble statute of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Baroness Thatcher, known as the Iron Lady, said the act was one of "sabotage" when interviewed by the UK's Press Association.

Paul Leslie Stephen Kelleher, who asked for reporting restrictions to be lifted when he appeared before City of London Magistrates Court in London, on Thursday, pleaded not guilty to causing criminal damage.

The anti-capitalist, from Isleworth, west London, is alleged to have attacked the statue with a V600 Slazenger cricket bat in the Guildhall Art Gallery in London before using a metal pole supporting a nearby rope cordon.

He told the court he did not see himself as a "criminal."

He added: "It was a one-off. I didn't hurt anybody. I even made sure the area was completely clear so no one would even be frightened by my actions. In all my 37 years I have never done anything like this before."

The case was adjourned until July 24.

Thatcher, who had admired the statue for its depiction of a "good big handbag," added: "I thought it was appalling but there you are.

"It's what vandals do. Politics is about persuading people through reason, not by acts of sabotage like that."

The eight-foot statue was withdrawn from view following the incident on Wednesday.

The two-ton white marble statue, sculpted by Neil Simmons, was unveiled by Thatcher in May, when she said it portrayed her "for posterity in a way which pleases me very much indeed."

Simmons described Thatcher as "a brilliant model." She sat on eight occasions in her office, while he prepared a clay model for the statue.

Under new rules, statues of former prime ministers who are still alive can be displayed at Westminster after three terms have passed since the subject was in power, as long as that is at least 12 years.

The statue was expected to move to Westminster after the next general election.