Man convicted of beheading statue of Margaret Thatcher

LONDON -- A man who admitted beheading a marble statue of Margaret Thatcher to protest global capitalism was convicted Wednesday, and the judge warned him he could go to jail.

The trial at Southwark Crown Court in London lasted half a day and a jury deliberated for only an hour before finding Paul Kelleher, 37, guilty of criminal damage for the attack last July on the 8-foot, $240,000 likeness of the former prime minister.

"Prison obviously has to be an option," Judge George Bathurst-Norman told Kelleher, ordering him to return to court Feb. 19.

"Fair enough, sir," responded Kelleher, who admitted vandalizing the statue but pleaded innocent, saying he carried out the attack to protest globalization and what he sees as Britain's too-close relationship with America.

"Humanity has arrived at a crossroads," he testified. "It is either time to die or time to evolve. ... The true defense in law is my little boy."

Prosecutors rejected that argument, saying Kelleher, a theater producer from London, had no justification for attacking the sculpture.

"This was a misguided and violent act for the purposes of publicity," said prosecutor Guy Ladenburg. "Quite how a willful and petulant act of destruction against a defenseless work of art belonging to the country could achieve (Kelleher's political aims) has not been made clear."

Kelleher sneaked a cricket bat into London's Guildhall Gallery under his raincoat and used it to whack the statue. When that didn't work, he knocked off its head with a heavy metal pole used to support ropes keeping the public back from exhibits.

Ladenburg told jurors Kelleher said he believed the statue represented the ills of the world's political systems and admitted deciding to damage it as soon as he heard it was on display.

"I knew I would have to come ... and take off its head," the prosecutor quoted him as telling detectives.

Ladenburg said Kelleher waited patiently for the right moment to hit the sculpture.

The judge told jurors before their deliberations that Kelleher's defense was unacceptable.

"To say he did this to prevent globalization, to try and stop this country cozying up to America, to draw attention to the dangers facing the world and protect his son, does not, I'm afraid, in law, amount to a lawful excuse," said Bathurst-Norman.

Lady Thatcher has decried the attack, saying: "Politics is about persuading people through reason, not by acts of sabotage like that."

Her brand of forceful conservatism -- she crushed the once-mighty labor unions and privatized many state-owned industries -- still stirs strong emotions among many Britons.

Artist Neil Simmons created the statue of Britain's first female prime minister for display in the Members' Lobby at the House of Commons.

Under parliamentary rules, no sculpture of a former prime minister could be exhibited during the subject's life. But the rules were changed to allow prime ministers' images to be displayed three electoral terms after they leave office -- a minimum of 12 years.

Lady Thatcher's statue had been expected to move to Parliament after the next general election, which must be held by 2006. Until then, it had been on display at the historic Guildhall in the capital's financial district.

Simmons is awaiting a decision by the House of Commons' art committee on whether to repair the statue or sculpt a new one, said his agent James Riches.