Rock star’s son on fees protest charge

The son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour has been charged with violent disorder and theft of a mannequin leg during a student fees protest.

Charlie Gilmour, 21, was one of seven people charged on Thursday by the Metropolitan Police as part of Operation Malone launched after a number of high-profile demonstrations in central London.

He will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on February 10.

The Cambridge University student was photographed hanging from a Union flag on the Cenotaph during the protest against an increase in tuition fees on December 9.

He was among thousands who descended on Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square ahead of the key Commons vote.

Mr Gilmour issued an apology the next day, describing his actions as a “moment of idiocy” and admitting he did not realise the monument in Whitehall commemorated Britain’s war dead. He was arrested on December 12.

His statement at the time said: “I would like to express my deepest apologies for the terrible insult to the thousands of people who died bravely for our country that my actions represented.”

Mr Gilmour, who has also been on the books of modelling agency Select Model Management, is the son of writer and journalist Polly Samson.

His biological father is the poet and playwright Heathcote Williams but he was adopted by Mr Gilmour when his mother remarried.

The December 9 protest also saw rioters attack the car carrying the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall to the Royal Variety Performance as the demonstration descended into violence. Police made around 30 arrests.

Christopher Hilliard, 22, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, and a 17-year-old man, also from Cheshire, were both charged with violent disorder and will also appear at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on February 10.

Three men have also been charged with offences during the protest on November 24.