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Margaret Thatcher statue vandalised and Grantham residents asked to help Lincolnshire Police investigation




Lincolnshire Police have launched an appeal for assistance after Grantham’s statue of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was vandalised again.

The statue, located on St Peter's Hill, was defaced with a derogatory message written in red paint overnight (March 5/6).

The vandalism was said to have been carried out at about midnight – and is the latest incident at the monument to the Grantham-born figure.

Can you help police identify this individual? | Image: Lincolnshire Police
Can you help police identify this individual? | Image: Lincolnshire Police

Unconfirmed reports suggest the word ‘b***ard’ had been daubed on the statue – with the message already cleaned off by lunch time today (Wednesday).

Authorities believe the person depicted in an image released by the police – who is not sporting a mask or fitting the profile of a stereotypical vandal - may have ‘crucial information’ regarding the incident and want help to trace them.

Officers have not said whether or not the person is solely or partly responsible – or the likely motivation of the attack on the statue.

The message has already been removed from the Margarat Thatcher statue
The message has already been removed from the Margarat Thatcher statue

2024 does mark the 40th anniversary of the miner’s strike – a controversial episode that still divides communities and is one of the most-debated parts of the former PM’s premiership – but it’s not thought that the message made clear whether or not this was the motivation behind the attack.

The 10ft 6in-high £300,000 statue itself has been hotly debated since it was installed, with eggs thrown at it within hours of it being unveiled.

Born Margaret Hilda Roberts in 1925, she grew up at her father Alfred's grocery shop in North Parade. She attended Kesteven and Grantham girls’ school – where she was head girl – before studying at Oxford and later becoming MP for Finchley in London.

Only a tiny glimmer of red paint remains from the overnight attack
Only a tiny glimmer of red paint remains from the overnight attack

Anyone with details about the attack asked to email at grantham@lincs.police.uk, quoting incident number 11 of March 6.



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