The son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour was jailed for 16 months yesterday for an alcohol and drugs-fuelled attack on Prince Charles’ convoy during a student protest in London last year.

Charlie Gilmour, 21, had pleaded guilty to violent disorder in May but was granted bail until yesterday’s hearing at Kingston Crown Court in southwest London in order to complete his exams at Cambridge University.

The former model was found to have hurled a bin at Prince Charles’ car and was also accused of smashing a window at a high street store, and was photographed hanging from the Cenotaph war memorial in London during the riot on December 9.

Judge Nicholas Price, passing sentence, said: “It would, in my view, be wrong for me to ignore who the occupants of the three cars were and that’s undoubtedly an aggravating feature.You should have known better than to behave in such a criminal and reprehensible way.”

The judge said Mr Gilmour would spend half the sentence in jail.

David Gilmour adopted Charlie Gilmour when he married his mother Polly Samson. The couple watched from the public gallery as he was sentenced.

Charlie Gilmour claimed he had not known what the Cenotaph was.

“For a young man of your intelligence and education and background to profess to not know what the Cenotaph represents defies belief,” he said.

Cambridge University would not confirm whether Mr Gilmour would be allowed to resume his studies after he had served his sentence.

“The college notes the gravity of the offence and is firmly opposed to public disorder,” said a spokesman for Girton College, where Mr Gilmour studies. “Due legal process has been observed and Mr Gilmour has been tried and sentenced accordingly.”

The court heard Charlie Gilmour had turned to drink and drugs after being rejected by his biological father, the writer Heathcote Williams, and had taken LSD and valium in the hours leading up to the violence.

Mr Gilmour’s barrister, David Spens, said the events of December 9 were a “slap in the face” for Mr Gilmour, which prompted him to stop taking drugs the following day.

The protests last December involved thousands of students demonstrating against the British government’s plans to raise university tuition fees to £9,000 (€10,045) per year.