London, Jan 23: A theater producer faced a jail after a London court found him guilty of knocking the head off a statue of Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister.
Paul Kelleher, 37, first used a cricket bat, then a metal pole from a crowd-control barrier to behead the white Italian marble statue -- complete with Thatcher's trademark handbag -- in the Guildhall Art Gallery in July 2002. Kelleher, from Isleworth, in West London, acknowledged at an earlier court hearing that he attacked the eight-foot artwork, but said it was a political protest and denied the one count of criminal damage against him.
"To say he did this to prevent globalisation, to try and stop this country cozying up to America, to draw attention to the dangers facing the world and protect his son, does not, I'm afraid, in law, amount to a lawful excuse," said Justice George Bathurst-Norman in Southwark Crown Court.

Kelleher had testified that he had nothing personal against baroness Thatcher -- nicknamed the "Iron Lady" during her years in Downing Street in the 1980s -- but disagreed with her conservative policies.



Thatcher herself has made no comment on the case.



Kelleher was released on bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared and told to be back at court on February 19.


Bureau Report