A man has been sentenced to 14 days in prison after he admitted to urinating next to a London memorial dedicated to a policeman who was murdered by a terrorist. Andrew Banks, 28, was widely condemned after an image went viral of him relieving himself outside parliament during far-right protests on Saturday. He pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge of outraging public decency after urinating next to the plaque to PC Keith Palmer, who was murdered while on duty at Westminster during an attack in 2017 in which four other people were also killed. Judge Emma Arbuthnot said she accepted Banks' explanation that he was so drunk he had no idea where he was urinating, that he did not intend to urinate next to the memorial and that he was remorseful. "You have caused much shock and upset. The public have been truly outraged by what you did," she said. "This is so serious that only a short custodial sentence is appropriate." Banks handed himself in to police after being urged to do so by his father. He had been in Westminster with far-right protesters who said they wanted to protect British culture and monuments to counter antiracism protesters in central London. "The irony is rather than protecting the monuments you almost urinated on one. That was more by luck than judgment," Ms Arbuthnot said. Tobias Ellwood, an MP and former British Army Officer who tried to save Palmer’s life, had described the image of Banks urinating as “abhorrent” and called for his identification.
