Repaired Paddington statue unveiled

A Paddington statue that was ripped from a bench by two RAF Odiham engineers has been repaired and unveiled.

Daniel Heath, from Thornton, near Bradford in West Yorkshire, and William Lawrence, from Enderby, Leicestershire, removed part of the statue from its bench in Newbury, Berkshire, in the early hours of 2 March.

It was recovered and repainted, and unveiled by Ian Batho and Ashley Morris from Newbury Business Improvement District (BID) at 11:30 BST.

Chief executive officer Trish Willets said she was "so excited" about the return of the statue.

"That fateful Sunday morning at half seven when we realised something awful had happened, we were beyond upset," she said.

She said Newbury "came together in a moment of grief".

"We had no idea that he was so, so loved by Newbury," she continued.

"It's just been amazing and we are delighted with everyone's comments."

She said the installation team worked behind the scenes "first thing in the morning, popping him back on his bench, making him all secure, polishing his little sandwich and his nose to get him all ready".

The statue was unveiled in front of an applauding crowd, including pupils from John Rankin School.

Anthony George, 64, from Hungerford, got the famous bear tattooed on his leg ahead of the unveiling.

He said: "I'm very proud of it.

"I just want to symbolise what a wonderful fictional character Paddington is. I grew up with Paddington, so it means a lot.

"It clearly says on his name tag, 'Look after me', or words to that effect, and hopefully people will adhere to that. Be kind."

He added he was "absolutely devastated" when the previous statue was vandalised.

"Such a shame and everyone loves Paddington - apart from Daniel and William. My dad was in the RAF, they're in the RAF - my dad would have been mortified."

As part of the unveiling, children were encouraged to write a letter welcoming Paddington back to Newbury.

They can be delivered to a special postbox next to his bench until 14:00 on Wednesday.

The statue was originally unveiled in the hometown of Paddington creator Michael Bond in October 2024.

It was one of dozens put up across the UK as part of the Paddington Visits trail to celebrate the film, Paddington in Peru.

Heath and Lawrence, both 22 and based at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, admitted criminal damage and were ordered to carry out unpaid work as well as pay £2,725 to cover the cost of repairs.

You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.