A HEREFORDSHIRE woman has been remanded in custody after pouring a bucket of faeces over a Captain Tom statue.

Her conviction comes after a video posted online showing human faeces being poured onto the life-sized statue of the Second World War veteran in Thistley Meadow, Hatton, south Derbyshire.

Madeline Budd entered guilty pleas to charges of causing criminal damage to property valued under £5,000 and committing a further offence while subject to a conditional discharge when she appeared before magistrates in Westminster.

The court heard the 21-year-old had destroyed a war memorial worth £200 belonging to AGC Fabrications intending to destroy or damage it or being reckless as to whether it would be destroyed or damaged in south Derbyshire on September 30.

Budd had been subject to a six-month conditional discharge order imposed by North London Magistrates Court on April 4 for an offence of invading a football pitch on March 16 at the time of the offence.

She had filmed herself pouring a canister containing faeces and urine over the memorial to the late officer, who shot to fame 2020 when he raised millions for good causes.

She was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words ‘End UK Private Jets.’

Appearing in the dock of Westminster Magistrates Court, the activist, who used to live in Manchester but now lives in a van, appeared calm as the case against her was read out.

Jordan Pratt, prosecuting, said it was an abhorrent act and that he should not have to remind the court of the impact Captain Sir Tom Moore had.

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“There was a high degree of planning and pre-meditation- she armed herself with a large amount of human faeces and turned it onto a statue," Mr Pratt said.

“There was a serious social impact to this offence. I imagine there will be a wide social outcry as a result of the commission of it.

“The value was low, but this case is not about the value at all. It is about the social impact it had.

“The officer in the case said she is a kind of ‘gun for hire’ who will get involved in any cause and will go to extreme lengths.

“There is no suggestion she is being paid for that.”

Her lawyer Francesca Cociani said she wanted the case adjourned for a probation report.

She argued that her client could be safely granted bail in her van and only poses a risk at protests, but this application was refused.

The case was adjourned for a pre-sentencing report to be carried out by probation and Budd, who is from Kington, Herefordshire, and was most recently of Kedleston Avenue, Manchester, was remanded in custody.

She will appear before magistrates in Westminster next on October 25.

Sir Tom, from Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, shot to national fame when he raised almost £33m for NHS charities during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic by walking laps of his garden aged 100.

He was later knighted by the Queen before he died with Covid-19 in February 2021

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