Statue Of Margaret Thatcher, Guildhall Art Gallery

The statue of Margaret Thatcher in the Guildhall, London, is a marble sculpture of Margaret Thatcher. It was commissioned in 1998 from the sculptor Neil Simmons by the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art; paid for by an anonymous donor, it was intended for a plinth among statues of former Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom in the Members' Lobby of the House of Commons. However as the House did not permit a statue to be erected there during its subject's lifetime, the work had been temporarily housed in Guildhall. It was unveiled there by Thatcher in May 1998. DecapitationOn 3 July 2002, Paul Kelleher decapitated the statue while it was on display at Guildhall Art Gallery. Having unsuccessfully taken a swing at the statue with a Slazenger V600 cricket bat concealed in his trousers, Kelleher picked up a metal pole from a nearby rope cordon and used it to decapitate the £150, 000 statue. After the beheading he waited to be arrested by the police who arrived minutes later. He joked on capture, "I think it looks better like that. "Following the loss of its head, the statue was removed from display. Although it was estimated that the work could be repaired for about £10, 000, statue experts worried that it would never be the same. At his first trial, Kelleher said in his defence that the attack involved his "artistic expression and my right to interact with this broken world". The jury, despite nearly four hours of deliberation and a direction from the judge that it could decide by majority, failed to agree on whether or not he had "lawful excuse". He was retried in January 2003, found guilty of criminal damage and sentenced to three months in jail.

The statue of Margaret Thatcher in the Guildhall, London, is a marble sculpture of Margaret Thatcher. It was commissioned in 1998 from the sculptor Neil Simmons by the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art; paid for by an anonymous donor, it was intended for a plinth among statues of former Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom in the Members' Lobby of the House of Commons. However as the House did not permit a statue to be erected there during its subject's lifetime, the work had been temporarily housed in Guildhall. It was unveiled there by Thatcher in May 1998. DecapitationOn 3 July 2002, Paul Kelleher decapitated the statue while it was on display at Guildhall Art Gallery. Having unsuccessfully taken a swing at the statue with a Slazenger V600 cricket bat concealed in his trousers, Kelleher picked up a metal pole from a nearby rope cordon and used it to decapitate the £150, 000 statue. After the beheading he waited to be arrested by the police who arrived minutes later. He joked on capture, "I think it looks better like that. "Following the loss of its head, the statue was removed from display. Although it was estimated that the work could be repaired for about £10, 000, statue experts worried that it would never be the same. At his first trial, Kelleher said in his defence that the attack involved his "artistic expression and my right to interact with this broken world". The jury, despite nearly four hours of deliberation and a direction from the judge that it could decide by majority, failed to agree on whether or not he had "lawful excuse". He was retried in January 2003, found guilty of criminal damage and sentenced to three months in jail.