Protesters planned to kidnap King Charles waxwork and hold it hostage

01 February 2023 , 14:08

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Tom Johnson and (right) Eilidh McFadden at Westminster Magistrates Court (Image: Central News)

Climate protesters plotted to kidnap King Charles' waxwork from Madame Tussauds - before opting to smear cake in its face instead.

Tom Johnson, 29, and Eilidh McFadden, 20, have been convicted of planning to hold the wax effigy hostage as part of ongoing Just Stop Oil protests.

The pair however abandoned their plans as they thought it would be "too frightening", and instead slapped cake in the royal waxwork's face "custard pie" style in October last year.

Westminster magistrates' court heard the two, both from Scotland, stood next to the waxwork and removed their clothes to reveal t-shirts bearing the group's name.

Climate protesters planned to kidnap the wax model of the King from Madame Tussauds and hold him hostage, a court heard (JustStopOil)

Prosecutor Jonathan Bryan said they then "made short speeches about climate change, the gallery was cleared the police were called, and when police arrived both defendants were arrested".

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The cost of the cleaning and repairs to the figurines, particularly the wax model of the King cost £3,500, the bench heard.

Danielle Clancy-Shelton, head of operations at Madame Tussaud's, described the aftermath of the cake attack as "quite hysterical".

"There was what I believed to be cake, mainly over King Charles' face and his garments.

"There was also a white foamy residue that had also gone on those two figures as well as Prince William and Princess Kate's dress and on the floor."

Tom Johnson, 29, and Eilidh McFadden, 20, allegedly thought kidnapping the monarch would be too frightening so they slapped cakes into his face instead (JustStopOil)

Johnson and McFadden claim they were acting out of necessity to raise awareness of the current climate emergency.

Footage of the cake attack was shown in court with Johnson shouting: "I will not be confronted by my grandchildren and tell them why I did not do anything to stop the poisoning of this planet."

Johnson, representing himself, told the court he was "surprised" the incident had escalated as far the court, adding that the disruption and damage to Madame Tussaud's owners Merlin Entertainment was "really minor for them".

"When we were designing the action, we considered other actions such as holding hostage the figure of King Charles III and broadcasting his own words.

"We agreed that could've been extremely disturbing or frightening to anyone on the scene, so we decided to stand next to him and calmly quote his words.

"Unfortunately, the noise level in the room was quite loud and we had to shout but the substances we used were carefully chosen to cause as little damage as possible."

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Johnson and McFadden said their plan to kidnap the waxwork would have been 'too disturbing' (JustStopOil)

Mr Bryan asked: "Would you say King Charles has quite a good record of talking out about climate change, your action would've been better had you chosen a climate denier would it not?"

Johnson replied: "We did it largely because it was confusing and shocking."

McFadden, who is also self-representing, told the court: "Shaving foam on a wax model is nothing compared to what we are going to see from the climate crisis."

Both Johnson, of Forneth, Blairgowrie, and McFadden, of Glasgow, denied criminal damage to a property valued under £5,000, but convicted on Wednesday by District Judge Neeta Minhas.

Johnson was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £1,750 in compensation with £250 in court costs.

McFadden, who has previous convictions relating to climate activism, was handed a 12-month community order with 80 hours unpaid work. She too must pay £1,750 in compensation and £250 in court costs.

Susie Beever