Tri-Service
Woman Jailed For Urinating On War Memorial
A woman has been jailed for a total of seven months for repeatedly urinating on a public war memorial.
42-year-old Kelly Martin swore and shouted at the courtroom as she was led down to the cells at Basildon Crown Court.
Martin had twice been caught desecrating the monument in Grays in Essex. On the first occasion, which took place during the day in April, there were still Remembrance poppy wreaths placed on the memorial.
The second incident occurred in June, the day before the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme. Committing the act in front of members of the public, pictures were later posted online.
Judge John Lodge, sentencing, said: "Each of these offences is so serious that only a custodial sentence is appropriate."
"The two cases of outraging public decency involve urinating on a war memorial. Inevitably war memorials were constructed at the centre of towns and villages so on a daily basis people could be reminded of the sacrifices made by people
who died."
"People use them as a place around which they congregate and that's not wrong, but when people take that step further and abuse them by urinating on them that's a matter the court needs to take very seriously indeed."
Addressing Martin, he said: "What makes your case particularly bad is having been caught doing it one time, when the nation was commemorating the worst battle of the First World War you were caught doing it again in the middle of the day."
A mother of five, Martin was convicted of two charges of outraging public deceny and one of common assault after hurling a bottle at a paramedic on the day of her arrest.
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