Fathers campaigner loses appeal against jail sentence

Tim Haries, 42, of Bellis Avenue, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, who told jurors he vandalised the picture to highlight the “social justice issue of our time”, was present in court to hear the dismissal of his case by Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas and two other judges at the Court of Appeal in London.

Haries, a Fathers4Justice protestor, had denied a charge of causing criminal damage of more than £5,000, but was found guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court in January and sentenced last month.

The father-of-two smuggled a can of purple spray paint into the Abbey on June 13 last year before writing the word “help” on the painting.

The judges ruled yesterday that his sentence was “fully merited”.

When Haries was sentenced on February 5, Recorder of Westminster Judge Alistair McCreath told him: “This was a deliberate and planned causing of damage to a valuable item of property on public display, carried out as a publicity exercise.”

The judge said the sentence must acknowledge Haries’ distress and unhappiness, but have regard to the case’s aggravating features, and to a degree deter others.