'Diabolical' drunken lout urinated against war memorial during stag party pub crawl
A DRUNKEN lout who urinated against a war memorial while on a stag party pub crawl.
Michael Lambert urinated on the war memorial in York
Michael Lambert relieved himself on a plaque listing the names of 2,236 dead and refused to stop even when horrified police spotted what he was doing.
The 54-year-old had been drinking all day in York when he desecrated the Grade II listed monument in York in broad daylight, city magistrates heard.
He was part of the crowd at York race course on Saturday July 15 for this year's John Smiths Cup meeting before going to the city centre.
He desecrated the Grade II listed monument in York
He still stood and exposed himself as they spoke to him and it became clear he was drunk
Prosecutor Cathy Turnbull said police saw him at 8.30pm standing by the city's North-Eastern Railway War Memorial to the railwaymen who fell in the World Wars.
He was facing it and relieving himself onto a plaque containing names of the fallen. The officers told him to stop.
She continued: "He didn't. He still stood and exposed himself as they spoke to him and it became clear he was drunk."
He was facing the memorial and relieved himself on the plaque containing names of the fallen
The officers then arrested him.
Lambert, of Norton near Stockton-on-Tees, pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly.
He was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £20 surcharge.
Lambert, who represented himself, said: "I regret what I have done. I have brought shame upon myself.
"I had had too much to drink and I didn't know what I had done."
He said he had been part of a stag party that had been at York Racecourse during the afternoon and then went to the city centre after the racing finished.
D-Day veteran Ken Smith said the act was 'diabolical'
But York D-Day veteran Ken Smith, 92, said: "I think it is diabolical.
"My attitude is we can't do enough for our veterans and there is a lot of interest in the First World War.
"I'm against anything that decries the memory of veterans.
"I don't like to see anything happen to anything that commemorates what happened.
"When we landed in Normandy we found some graves of World War One soldiers which the Germans had been using as toilets."
The memorial at the head of Station Road commemorates 2,236 men of the North Eastern Railway Company who lost their lives in the world wars.
It was created by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, who also designed the Cenotaph in London and was unveiled by Field Marshall Lord Plumer in 1924.