A MAN has been arrested after a statue by a paedophile artist outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House was smashed with a hammer.
Police were called to reports of damage to the Prospero and Ariel statue, which was made by Brighton-born artist Eric Gill in 1933.
Campaigners have asked for it to be removed from Portland Place, Westminster, after it was revealed that Gill sexually abused his two eldest daughters.
Yesterday, a man was seen attacking the 10ft statue, removing large parts of stone from it while police attempted to engage with him.
After four and a half hours, the man came down with assistance from the fire service.
“He was checked by London Ambulance Service before being arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and taken into custody,” the Met Police said.
“The property owners are examining any damage to the statue and building.
“Another man was earlier arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage. He also remains in custody.”
The statue depicts Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.
Gill, who was born in Brighton in 1882, converted to Catholicism in 1913.
He was then invited to design the Stations Of The Cross in Westminster Cathedral.
Gill was one of the most respected artists of the 20th century when he died in 1940.
However, his diaries, published in 1989, revealed that he abused his daughters Betty and Petra, as well as the family dog.
A biography on the Tate Museum website said: “His religious views and subject matter contrast with his sexual behaviour, including his erotic art, and (as mentioned in his own diaries) his extramarital affairs and sexual abuse of his daughters, sisters and dog.”
Nearly 2,500 people have previously signed a petition demanding the removal of the sculpture on the website of political activist group 38 Degrees.
A spokeswoman for the BBC declined to comment.
The incident comes a week after a jury cleared four people of criminal damage after they pulled down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
The bronze memorial to the 17th century figure was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020, before being rolled into the water.
Those responsible were acquitted on January 5 following an 11-day trial at the Old Bailey.
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