Fathers4Justice campaigner appears in court accused of defacing a portrait of the Queen



Tim Haries, 41, alleged to have defaced portrait in Westminster Abbey

Appeared in court charged with criminal damage of more than £5,000



Released on conditional bail until next hearing at Southwark Crown Court



Ralph Heimans portrait was commissioned to mark Diamond Jubilee

Fathers4Justice campaigner Tim Haries has appeared in court accused of defacing a portrait of the Queen in Westminster Abbey

A Fathers4Justice campaigner appeared in court today accused of defacing a portrait of the Queen in Westminster Abbey.



Tim Haries, 41, is alleged to have smuggled a can of spray paint into the abbey yesterday before defacing the picture.



He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with criminal damage of more than £5,000.



Asked by the court to enter a plea, Haries, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, said he was 'not in a position' to at that moment.



He was released on conditional bail until the next hearing, at Southwark Crown Court on June 28, but banned from London in the meantime.



The painting, by Ralph Heimans, which was put on public display last month, was damaged with paint yesterday lunchtime.



The work, valued at around £160,000 and called The Coronation Theatre, Westminster Abbey: A Portrait Of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, has been removed from public display for repairs.



Immediately after the damage was done, a picture was taken and the image was uploaded to the internet.



Haries allegedly shouted ‘Fathers4Justice!’ when he was arrested.



Chief magistrate Howard Riddle released Haries on conditional bail at the end of the 12-minute hearing, but said he must stay outside the M25 after police raised concerns that he would join an apparent Father’s Day protest in the capital planned for Sunday.



Haries was supported by at least one Fathers4Justice activist in the public gallery, although the group said the act at Westminster Abbey was not an official protest.



The portrait was designed to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and had only been on display in the Chapter House for a few weeks before it was vandalised.

Appearing in court wearing blue jeans, a black T-shirt with a yellow motif and a leather jacket, Haries looked relaxed as he stood in the dock.



He flashed a smile to a fellow Fathers4Justice campaigner who was sat in the public gallery with a sign which read 'No bail, hunger strike'.



Malachy Pakenham, prosecuting, told the court: 'The police have concerns that it is Father’s Day this Sunday and he seems to belong to an organisation called Fathers4Justice and they are having a demonstration in London on Sunday.



'The police have concerns, bearing in mind the nature of this attack and the demonstration this Sunday.'



Haries is separated from his wife, Jenny, and is in the midst of an access battle over his two daughters, aged 13 and ten.



Protest: A portrait of the Queen, left - commissioned by the Palace to mark the Diamond Jubilee - was defaced at Westminster Abbey yesterday; the damage is pictured right

