Disappointment over Richard III statue vandalism

One of Leicester's best known statues has been vandalised by being sprayed with yellow paint.

The statue of Richard III, which stands in Cathedral Gardens, was targeted overnight on Friday with crude anatomical shapes.

It was donated to the city by the Richard III Society in 1980 and refurbished as part of a £2.5m project following the discovery of the Plantagenet monarch's remains nearby in 2012.

A spokesman for the King Richard III Visitor Centre said they were "so disappointed" and council cleaning teams had been notified.

The bronze statue, which features Richard holding a crown in one hand and a sword in the other, marked the fact he marched from Leicester to his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

For centuries a widely believed story stated his body had been thrown into the River Soar in Leicester.

But University of Leicester archaeologists, along with the the Richard III Society, decided to investigate suggestions the king had actually been buried in the former Greyfriars friary in the city.

They uncovered his skeleton in 2012 and the remains, with Richard III's famous curved spine, were later interred at Leicester Cathedral.

This prompted a redesign of the cathedral gardens and the restoration of the statue, which included giving it a larger sword than the original design.

The visitor centre features an annex which was built over the grave site.

A spokesman from the centre said: "We are so disappointed to discover this senseless vandalism today.

"It has been reported to the City Warden/Street Cleaning Team and will hopefully be restored/repaired very soon."

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