This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A woman who urinated twice on a war memorial, including on the eve of the Battle of the Somme centenary, has been convicted of outraging public decency.

Kelly Martin, an alcoholic, desecrated the monument in Grays, Essex, in April and June, in front of members of the public, including young children.

Pictures of the 30 June offence caused a public outcry when they were posted on social media on 1 July as the nation commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Somme offensive that cost hundreds of thousands of lives in 1916.

Martin, 42, of Grays, who the court heard has mental health problems, was arrested the following day. She had denied two charges of outraging public decency and one each of common assault and using abusive language against a paramedic the same day.

She was convicted of all charges late on Tuesday after a short trial at Basildon magistrates court.

Her lawyer had argued that the June offence was a case of mistaken identity, and said in April she had not deliberately urinated on the memorial, which still had remembrance wreaths at its base.

The chairman of the bench, Stuart Cranmer, said: “These offences really resonated with the local community.”

Armed forces veterans were in court to see Martin convicted.



Wearing a green T-shirt, she stood with arms folded as the verdicts were announced. Cranmer remanded her in custody before a sentencing hearing.



Martin was on bail at the time of the second public urination offence after her April arrest for the first, the court heard. On both occasions she was among a crowd of people around the memorial when she dropped her trousers and relieved herself.



PC James Shelton of Essex police, who arrested Martin after the 13 April incident, told the court he was shocked by what he saw taking place in front of 15 to 20 people.



He said: “For me, the war memorial is something that we need to remember in terms of people who gave their lives for us. We hold them in our hearts. I was so disgusted that someone could be so deliberately offensive towards it



“I looked around in disbelief. In particular I saw a mother that had a child in a pushchair. She was trying to shield her child’s eyes from what was happening.”



Edward Cottee, who witnessed the 30 June incident, told the trial he was working in a nearby office and saw Martin leave a group of street drinkers and walk to the memorial.



Giving evidence from behind a screen, he said: “I saw her squatting down and urinating. It was directed against the base of the war memorial. I was disgusted by it. I thought it was extremely disrespectful so I reported it to the police.”



He denied a claim by the defence that he had previously complained to police about the group but agreed that he wanted them moved away because of their “anti-social behaviour”.

Members of the UK Veterans One Voice organisation produced a letter for magistrates asking for a harsh sentence for Martin. They said that her actions had left many vulnerable ex-service personnel “nauseated and disgusted”.

Victoria Shehadeh, prosecuting, said that when interviewed by police, Martin admitted being an alcoholic but denied urinating on the war memorial.



The defendant did not give evidence during the trial. She will be sentenced on 25 August.