Ukrainian man who stripped naked on a statue demands to be deported

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A man who allegedly stripped naked on top of a statue in central London before breaking off its sword and biting it, has appeared in court charged with possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

Dan Motrescu, 29, a Ukrainian of no fixed abode, has also been charged with criminal damage.

Motrescu dismissed his lawyer and said he wanted to be deported back to the Ukraine to be judged there. He was remanded in custody until Thursday, when he will reappear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He had been under close observation at St Thomas’s Hospital.

Motrescu was arrested after allegedly scaling the life-sized horse-mounted statue of Prince George, the Duke of Cambridge, in Whitehall, central London, on Friday.