Vandal attack on Sunderland's Sir Henry Havelock statue condemned as 'cowardly'

Sunderland residents who are shocked and angry at the vandalism have condemned their actions as a 'cowardly act’ after the words ‘racist’ and ‘parasite’ were scrawled across the base in red paint.

The statue, which is situated in Mowbray Park, was added to the 'Topple the Racists' list which includes monuments which campaigners claim ‘celebrate slavery and racism’ last week.

The council said it had put CCTV in place to monitor the statue after it was put on a target list. It has handed the footage to police but says nothing was ‘immediately apparent’ on camera.

Conservative councillor William Blackett, who has been petitioning for monuments to remain and be protected from harm, said: “I think it’s an example of mindless vandalism by agitators.

“The statue has been there since 1861 and people in the last week or two have only just come out to say they’re offended by it.

“The council has known that there has been strong feelings about this statue since Wednesday or Thursday last week and they have failed to protect it.

“It shows a complete failure by the council, there has to be a need to protect our history and our heritage.”

Dave Royal was among the people who visited the statue this morning, Tuesday, June 16, to see the damage for themselves.

The 59-year-old, of Grangetown, said: “I got a message from a friend and came straight down. I do a lot of work with the Veteran’s Walk so I went to see if there was any damage there first.

“This has been done by cowards and it is a cowardly act. It has been done to sow division and it wouldn’t do their cause, whatever it is, any good.”

Dave, who is a former reserve soldier for the 4th Battalion Parachute Regiment and worked for the fire service for 30 years, added: “Trying to erase our history is just silly, we need to learn from our history, both the good and the bad things.

“Desecrating public monuments isn’t a way of getting the way of getting a point across.”

A clean up operation was carried out by Sunderland City Council with jet washers used to remove the graffiti from the monument.

Coun Michael Mordey, Deputy Leader, Sunderland City Council, said: “This is a wanton act of vandalism on a historic statue in one of our most beautiful parks.

“We have already made clear that as a listening council we take on board the views of the public and that should we be requested to look again at our monuments, statues and public commemorations, we will do that and consult further. Subject to consultation with the public of Sunderland, we would then look to reach a consensus.

“We absolutely do not tolerate vandalism to our statues and if we find out who did this, we will prosecute them. We had already put CCTV in place to monitor the statue as soon as we found it was on a target list, and although nothing is immediately apparent from the camera footage, we will be passing it to Northumbria Police for further investigation. We would also urge anyone who has any information about who is behind this criminal damage to come forward and report it to the police.

According to the Topple the Racists website, the campaign, part of the ‘Stop Trump Coalition’, was inspired by removal of Bristol’s statue of slave trader Edward Colston by protesters.

The website said it wants to promote ‘debate’ and ‘shine a light on the continued adoration of colonial icons and symbols’.

Two petitions have been launched over the Havelock statue in Mowbray Park, with one calling for a review into the statue and another calling for the statue to be protected from harm.

General Havelock was a Sunderland-born military leader during the period of the British Empire and is particularly associated with battles in India which is where he died in 1857.

As well as the statue in Mowbray Park, Havelock has also been immortalised with a statue in Trafalgar Square.

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