MP Calls For Tougher Prison Sentences For War Memorial Vandals

A Conservative MP is calling for tougher prison sentences for vandals who damage war memorials.

Jonathan Gullis, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, told Forces News a new bill needs to be introduced to better protect war memorials across the country from criminal damage.

Mr Gullis is working with former British Army colonel and now Tory MP for Bracknell, James Sunderland, in pushing for the new law.

He said their aim is to have "a specific desecration of war memorials punishment" consisting of a "maximum sentence of 10 years", with the length of sentence handed down at a judge’s discretion.

Mr Gullis said any punishment is currently determined by the monetary value of the damage – often relatively small in the case of a war memorial. 

"Whilst these monetary values might be quite small, actually, the emotional aggravating factors are far higher than many other crimes, in some cases," he said.

"So what we're saying is let's get rid of this financial barrier that stops this going through a Crown Court, let a magistrate determine the seriousness of the offence, and allow the judges to use their discretion to determine what punishment fits the crime."

Last year, 132 war memorials were given Grade II listed status ahead of Armistice Day in November.

But Mr Gullis said this is not enough to protect them from being vandalised.

"What that does, by listing it, is ensure that the monument is protected in terms of never being removed or demolished but, actually, somebody could still deface it, urinate on it, spit on it," the MP said.

Over the past couple of years, a number of war memorials in the UK have been vandalised, including the Cenotaph in Whitehall last summer.

Mr Gullis said he sees the memorials as a way of remembering "those who gave up their tomorrows for our todays", as well as a reminder of "the amazing Armed Forces past and present".

"Without our Armed Forces we would truly be a nation that wouldn’t be as great and as global as we are," he said.