Just Stop Oil pair fined for cake attack on wax monarch

TWO Just Stop Oil protesters must pay Madame Tussauds £3,500 in compensation to repaint a waxwork of the King and dry clean its clothes after they covered it in vegan chocolate cake.

Eilidh Mcfadden, 20, and Tom Johnson, 29, were yesterday found guilty of criminal damage after Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard they had targeted the royal exhibit in the London tourist attraction “in the manner of a slapstick comedy using custard pies”.

The activists smeared the cakes, which were topped with shaving foam, over the waxwork’s face, before quoting Charles’s own words on climate change on Oct 24 last year.

The King’s waxwork needed to be repainted after the substances were cleaned off, while the jacket, shirt and bow tie needed to be dry-cleaned.

The model of the King, along with those of the Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales – which can cost up to £200,000 to make – were removed from display until the following morning.

Mcfadden and Johnson had denied causing £3,500 of criminal damage.

Johnson said they had rejected the idea of using hot soup, while Mcfadden told the court she had practised the cake stunt with another person.

“The substance was carefully chosen to inflict as little damage as possible,” said Johnson.

District Judge Neeta Minhas convicted them of causing £3,500 of criminal damage, telling the pair she was satisfied the damage was “significant” and “not minor or temporary”.