A protester wielding a hammer has scaled BBC Broadcasting House to deface a statue sculpted by the rapist Eric Gill, following a lengthy campaign calling for the BBC to remove it. The controversial sculpture, titled Ariel and Prospero, was unveiled in 1933 after being commissioned by the BBC from Gill, an artist who was later found to have sexually abused his daughters, sister and family dog. Sexual abuse charities have long called for the statue’s removal.

The protester was heard telling Metropolitan Police negotiators that the sculpture should have been removed “decades ago”. He was then arrested after a stand-off which lasted more than four hours. As with the Bristol mob, the police could be seen in their default mode, standing around doing nothing.

UKIP opposes criminal damage of statues. We are not surprised, however, to see individuals taking it upon themselves to do so, given the moral precedent set last week when the Colston Four were acquitted. The ruling is a vandal’s charter.

It will be interesting to see how the courts cope with this. Following a spate of yobbery, we have seen demands for tougher sentences for those defacing statues. If they throw the book at the vandal in question, the further hypocrisy will be noticed as the establishment defends the works of a prolific paedophile while giving a free pass to BLM. Though it wouldn’t be the first time.

We might venture there is scope for convening a panel to replace the statue through a proper consultation process, but any replacement statue would have to reflect the values and priorities of the modern BBC – which ultimately suggests an exact replica.