Tom Johnson and Eilidh McFadden handed £3,500 penalty for smearing statue with vegan chocolate cake during a protest
The court heard how Tom Johnson and Eilidh McFadden targeted the King’s statue ‘in the manner of a slapstick comedy’ CREDIT: Central News
Two Just Stop Oil protesters must pay Madame Tussauds £3,500 in compensation to repaint a waxwork of the King and dry clean its clothes after they covered it in vegan chocolate cake.
Eilidh McFadden, 20, and Tom Johnson, 29, were found guilty of criminal damage after Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard they targeted the model “in the manner of a slapstick comedy using custard pies”.
The activists smeared the cakes, which were topped with shaving foam, in the model’s face, before quoting the King’s own words on climate change on Oct 24 last year.
His waxwork needed to be repainted after the substances were cleaned off following the stunt, while its jacket, shirt and bow tie needed to be dry cleaned.
The model, along with those of the Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales – which can cost between £75,000 and £200,000 to make – were removed from display until the following morning.
McFadden and Johnson denied causing £3,500 of criminal damage, with the costs said to have been incurred by the repainting, as well as the cleaning of the waxworks’ clothes and real hair wigs, and the royal set, including a red throne.
The court heard that some staff had to work extra hours, while admission was halted for almost an hour, which could have prevented up to 900 people entering during the busy half-term holiday.
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