A woman from Manchester could be facing jail after pleading guilty to criminal damage – an incident in which she poured human faeces over a memorial to Captain Sir Tom Moore.
The 21-year-old carried out the stunt as part of a climate protest, wearing a t-shirt that said ‘End UK private jets’.
Video shared on social media showed her pouring a canister of human waste over the life-size statue of the World War II veteran and fundraiser.
The statue is located in Thistley Meadow, Hatton, south Derbyshire, and was placed there as a tribute to Captain Tom, who raised almost £33 million for NHS charities by walking lockdown laps of his garden in the run up to his 100th birthday.
BREAKING: End UK Private Jets supporter pours human faceas on Captain Tom memorial. Maddie, 21, former medical student said:
He died with Covid-19 in February 2021, shortly after he was knighted by the Queen.
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Madeleine Budd of Kedlestone Avenue was arrested in London on Sunday 2 October.
Derbyshire Police charged her on Monday with criminal damage to a war memorial to the value of £200.
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She appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court today, where she pleaded guilty.
Human faeces was poured on a Captain Tom Moore memorial by a climate protester. Credit: Twitter, @EndUKPrivateJets
Prosecutor Jordan Pratt told the court: “This offence lasted for a short amount of time, it is only 30 seconds in length but the impact of this offence is substantial.”
He continued: “This is an abhorrent act. I do not need to remind the court of the impact that Sir Tom had.
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“He was a figurehead that a number of people rallied around in a fundraising effort that raised tens of millions of pounds in the height of the pandemic.”
In posts from the End UK Private Jets campaign group, Budd was quoted as saying: “Every time a private jet takes off, we pour a bucket of sh*t and blood on everything captain Tom stood for.”
Budd was remanded in custody until her hearing on 25 October.
Travel warning issued as tens of thousands to descend for Manchester Half Marathon
Daisy Jackson
A travel warning has been issued ahead of the Manchester Half Marathon this weekend, with tens of thousands of runners and spectators expected to arrive in the city.
People are being urged to plan their journeys ahead of time, with significant road closures in place from the city centre as far out as Sale.
Road closures – and subsequent bus diversions – will also affect parts of Stretford, Chorlton, Trafford, and surrounding areas.
Around 32,000 people are expected to take part in the Manchester Half Marathon this Sunday, with thousands more coming out to cheer the runners on.
Transport for Greater Manchester is advising people that the Bee Network trams will be the best way to get around over the weekend.
Extra trams will be operating to provide as much capacity as possible.
Road closures and bus diversions will start on Saturday 3 October and continue until the actual race day on Sunday 4 October, lifting fully by 8.30pm.
Tens of thousands of runners and spectators will descend on Manchester for the half marathon
Earlier this year, the Manchester Marathon led to a record-breaking day for Metrolink trams, with the highest number of passengers ever recorded on a single day in the network’s history.
Whether running or cheering, people are advised to use the Bee Network app to plan their journeys and are strongly encouraged not to drive within the affected areas.
Steve Gilholme, Head of Events at Transport for Greater Manchester, said: “The Manchester Half Marathon is another one of those special occasions where the people of Greater Manchester and beyond come together, with thousands of people taking on the challenge and raising money for good causes, while many more will line the route to cheer them on.
“This does mean the city centre and especially trams will be incredibly busy so please plan ahead and give yourself extra time to make journeys.
“The Bee Network app and website will be the best places to get the latest travel information and tap and go contactless payments are the quickest and easiest way to pay.”
You can see all the road closures for the Manchester Half Marathon HERE.
Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the 14 national museums of the UK are all located in England – including the Imperial War Museum North, and the Science and Industry Museum in our region – and free entry to was first introduced all the way back in 2001, with millions of visitors having benefitted since.
National museums are said to add more than £1 billion a year to the economy, and bring in visitors from all over the world.
In fact, seven of the UK’s 10 most visited museums are national museums, and 7.1 million people visited the Natural History Museum and 6.4 million visited the British Museum in 2025 alone.
The Government has announced that all national museums in the UK will remain free for everyone to visit / Credit: Science Museum Group | Wikimedia Commons
Earlier this year though, the Government committed to working with local leaders and the museum and tourism sectors to explore whether charging overseas visitors could help museums’ finances.
But following this, it’s now believed that charging could deter visitors, and that the impacts and benefits would ‘not be felt equally’ across the sector.
Instead, the free entry will be funded by the £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund – which is providing £760 million for museums – while £600 million of infrastructure funding is supporting national museums and DCMS-sponsored cultural organisations.
The latter funding will be used to address critical maintenance and works to estates, and enable institutions to deliver on their commitments to share collections with visitors from around the world.