Man charged after Churchill statue defaced in London

A 38-year-old man has been charged with criminal damage after graffiti was sprayed on the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, police said.

The Metropolitan Police said Caspar San Giorgio, of no fixed address, was arrested shortly after 4am on Friday.

He was taken into custody and charged just before 4am on Saturday.

Police said he is due to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Saturday morning.

Graffiti was sprayed on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, Westminster, in the early hours of Friday morning, branding the former prime minister a "Zionist war criminal".

Other phrases including "Stop the Genocide" and "Free Palestine" were sprayed in red paint on the bronze sculpture.

The Met said San Giorgio, of no fixed address, was charged at 3.50am on Saturday.

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