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Manchester climate activist faces jail for defacing Sir Captain Tom Moore memorial
The former medical student has been charged with criminal damage
A climate activist from Manchester is facing prison time after pleading guilty to pouring human faeces over a memorial for Sir Captain Tom Moore.
Madeline Budd, twenty-one, was seen pouring human waste over the memorial to the late British army officer in Hatton, Derbyshire in footage shared by campaign group End UK Private Jets.
The former medical student was charged with criminal damage on Monday (October 3rd), and admitted the offence the next day at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
District Judge Louisa Cieciora said the starting point for sentencing could be one year and six months in prison. The case has been adjourned until October 25th.
During the trial, prosecutor Jordan Pratt slammed Budd’s act as ‘abhorrent’, adding that people would find it ‘hugely disrespectful’.
Pratt also described Budd as a ‘gun for hire’ who is not ‘nailing her colours to the mast’ on a particular issue, but will instead commit offences at numerous protests.
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In a second social media video, Budd said of her actions: “People are going to say that he [Captain Tom] is a hero, people are going to say that this is profoundly, obscenely disrespectful to his life, and to the NHS he stood up for and I agree.
“I was studying to become a doctor because I believe in taking care of people. If we believe that the NHS is important, if we believe in taking care of each other, if we believe that NHS workers are doing essential work, why are we forcing our healthcare system into collapse?
“Why are we forcing our civilisation into collapse, why is basically no one taking this genocide of all humanity seriously?”
She added: “All of this is true and the government won’t end UK private jets, every time one takes off, it pours a bucket of s**t and blood on to everything that Captain Tom stood for.”
End UK Private Jets is a small group that campaigns against carbon emissions caused by private aircraft.
Sir Captain Tom Moore rose to fame as a result of his fundraising efforts during the Covid pandemic, which saw him raise £38m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.