Famed gorilla statue returns to Wakefield garden

A gorilla statue at the centre of a planning row has been reunited with its Yorkshire owner, who joked the beloved animal "didn't like" London.

The gorilla, named Caesar, sat on top of a plinth on Adele Teale's house in Wakefield for two years, before the district council ordered her to remove it on the grounds it did not have the required planning permission.

With Teale facing a fine, Caesar was packed off to a travel agents in Mayfair in June this year, where his presence amused customers for several weeks.

But with the gorilla seemingly homesick, he was driven back to his true home in the Stanley area of Wakefield, where he is now standing in Teale's garden as an ornament.

Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds on Friday, Teale said: "I couldn't wait for it to come back to be honest.

"I know it's only plastic but I've had him for so long. It's just a feature."

Asked if how Caesar had enjoyed London, Teale joked, "I don't think he liked it to be honest," before adding, "No, he did!"

She described his travel agent hosts as "amazing" and said they had "looked after" the 4ft (1.2m) primate.

"They took him all round London on a flat bed truck, he saw all the sights and then he ended up in a flight shop," she said.

"Then they transported him back for me."

Teale previously told the BBC how she had had Caesar outside her home when she lived in south Leeds without "any trouble" for 15 years.

She then moved to the Stanley area of Wakefield in 2020, before the ape was given its own plinth attached to the home four years later.

The owner said she had been threatened with a fine of up to £20,000 by Wakefield Council before Caesar moved south in June.

But with the gorilla now attached to a table in her garden, she said she believed there was no longer an issue with the planning rules.

She added: "I wasn't prepared to get a fine for up to £20,000, so I thought I'd just take it down and save the hassle.

"When he was sent back, I thought I'd just put him there. It's not structural. He's in the garden and he's on a table that's been built and he's bolted down."

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