Man who urinated on hospice's elephant statue jailed

A man who threw a brick and urinated on an elephant statue put on display as part of a hospice's fundraising appeal has been jailed for 16 weeks.

Faisal Mohammed, 31, was caught on CCTV repeatedly damaging Hidden Treasures in the early hours of 18 July, near The Curve in William Street, Slough.

The artwork was placed there as part of Thames Hospice's Trunks Across the Thames appeal. The charity placed 30 decorated elephants around Slough, Eton and Windsor over the summer.

Mohammed, of no fixed address, admitted at Slough Magistrates' Court to criminal damage against the statue, which was decorated by artist Millery Wheeler, and outraging public decency.

The court heard that the damage to the elephant would have cost about £2,000 to repair, but volunteers had fixed it at no charge to the hospice.

Mohammed also admitted assaulting a female police officer in Slough while he was being arrested for an unrelated matter and criminal damage for spitting in a police van on 10 September.

He was given a five-year criminal behaviour order, banning him from Slough's High Street and surrounding areas, unless he is attending meetings relating to the police, probation or a job.

He was also told to pay a £154 victim surcharge.

Mohammed appeared at the court via videolink from HMP Brixton.

He was jailed at Reading Crown Court for 26 months in September for threatening a person with a blade and for racially aggravated actual bodily harm.