Margaret Thatcher statue vandalised for second time in a fortnight
A newly installed statue of Margaret Thatcher has been vandalised yet again, this time with red paint.
The £300,000 sculpture of Britain’s first female prime minister was installed just two weeks ago in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
It hasn’t proved very popular so far, with someone egging it within two hours of it being lowered into place in her home town.
The 10ft-high granite memorial was originally proposed to be put up in Parliament Square in Westminster, but was moved due to fears of a ‘motivated far-left movement… who may be committed to public activism’.
Lincolnshire Police said: ‘Just before 11.15pm yesterday we received reports of a person shown on CCTV acting suspiciously near the site.
‘Officers attended and found graffiti had been spray painted onto the barriers surrounding the statue, no damage was thought to have been caused to the statue itself.
‘This is being treated as criminal damage and an enquiry is ongoing.’
After a large-scale £100,000 unveiling ceremony was approved by South Kesteven District Council in 2020, a Facebook group proposed an ‘egg-throwing contest’ at the event.
More than 2,400 people confirmed they would take part in ‘egg throwing’ and ‘potentially graffiti art’.
As a result of the warning, the council installed a CCTV camera directly opposite the statue.
Art centre deputy director Jeremy Webster, 59, was ordered to pay £90 for throwing an egg at it on the day it was unveiled.
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