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3rd October 2022
06:26pm BST
Maddie Budd (Image: End UK Private Jets)[/caption]
The 21-year-old former medical student was protesting private jet use, in a stunt which has been branded "sick" and "just weird" by viewers on social media.
The former medical student from Manchester was arrested on Sunday and has since been charged for allegedly vandalising the memorial. She is due to appear in Westminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Jim Budd, Maddie's father, has since come out and condemned his daughter's actions.
https://twitter.com/EndUKPrivateJet/status/1575966285787463684
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “I’m ashamed of her and what she has done. There has been a big public reaction for obvious reasons. I don’t think she understands what the hell she was unleashing.
“I felt sick with shock when I saw it – I have sent her a text message but she has not replied.”
The dad said his daughter had been at university but put her studies on hold to fight against the climate crisis.
He said he found it “very hard” the understand how young people can feel so threatened by climate change that they carry out such actions.
Budd said he's not going to make excuses for his daughter's “terrible mistake”, adding: “We were horrified, it's an ongoing worry.”
In a statement following the incident, Budd, a former medical student from Wales, said: "People are going to say that he's a hero, people are going to say that this is profoundly, obscenely disrespectful to his life, and to the NHS he stood up for and I agree. “I was studying to become a doctor because I believe in taking care of people. If we believe that the NHS is important, if we believe in taking care of each other, if we believe that NHS workers are doing essential work, why are forcing our healthcare system into collapse, why are we forcing our civilisation into collapse, why is basically no-one taking this genocide of all humanity seriously? “All of this is true and the Government won't even End UK Private Jets, every time one takes off, it pours a bucket of sh*t and blood onto everything that Captain Tom stood for.” End UK Private Jets wants to end carbon emissions, starting with the most luxurious and unnecessary emissions in the UK, by ending UK Private Jets. [caption id="attachment_361851" align="alignnone" width="2048"]A 21-year-old woman has been charged after a memorial for Sir Captain Tom Moore was allegedly defaced in #Hatton, south Derbyshire. You can read more details here: https://t.co/MEEHIAFmWT pic.twitter.com/Wo1HsQ4v5I
— Derbyshire Police (@DerbysPolice) October 3, 2022
Maddie Budd (Image: End UK Private Jets)[/caption]
A spokesperson told Metro: "Captain Tom is a symbol of doing a good thing in hard times. He did so much good. And every time a private jet takes off, everything he stood for, all the good he did, is getting shit all over.
"The NHS will collapse if there’s no food, water or if the beds are filled up with millions of bodies. Words don’t come close to describe what this looks like. Maddie’s action doesn’t come to close to describe it."
The spokesperson went on to admit that what Maddie did to Captain Tom "is disrespectful" but said it "doesn’t even come close to the disrespect of letting climate collapse happen".
Just ahead of his 100th birthday in 2020, Captain Tom made headlines around the when he attempted to complete 100 laps of his garden to raise money for NHS Charities during the pandemic.
A modest goal of £1,000 was set, but Captain Tom ended up raising £32.79 million and earned himself a knighthood. He was also appointed an honorary colonel of the Army Foundation College.
Captain Tom passed away aged 100 on 2 February, 2021.
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