A man has been arrested after allegedly damaging a statue outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House on Wednesday.
Officers were called to reports of a man scaling the building in Portland Place, central London, and using a chisel to damage the statue in question.
Police attended and arrested the man on suspicion of criminal damage after he was helped down by London fire brigade at 8.45pm. The man accused of damaging the statue was taken into custody after being checked over by medics.
A police spokesperson said: “Police were called at approximately 4.15pm on Wednesday, 12 January, to reports of a man damaging a statue on a ledge outside a building in Portland Place, W1. Officers attended.
“The man came down with assistance from London fire brigade at around 8.45pm. He was checked by London ambulance service before being arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and taken into custody.
“The property owners are examining any damage to the statue and building.”
Another man was also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage and remains in custody.
The carving, which depicts Prospero and a part-naked Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, was installed by the artist on the front of the BBC’s Broadcasting House headquarters in London in 1933, shortly after the building opened. The sculptor, Eric Gill, was one of the most prominent early 20th-century British artists and designers until his death in 1940. But his diaries, published many decades later, revealed his sexual abuse of his daughters and family dog.
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