Eurostar disruption: Brexiteer admits climbing onto station roof in stunt which sparked travel chaos
Terry Maher told police he had a聽Stanley knife, that he disliked politicians and made "other comments about illegal聽immigrants".
Monday 1 April 2019 15:47, UK
A man has admitted climbing onto a roof at St Pancras station to protest about politicians "f* up Brexit", causing major delays for thousands of Eurostar passengers.
Terry Maher, 44, from Camden, north London, was carrying a St George's flag when he climbed on a roof at the London terminal shortly after 7pm on Friday evening.
After a 12-hour stand-off with police, he eventually came down at 8am on Saturday morning, telling arresting officers he was angry at politicians for "f* up Brexit", Westminster Magistrates' Court heard on Monday.
Prosecuting, Robert Simpson said: "The defendant managed to gain access to the roof of the building and he told the police at the time he had a Stanley knife.
"He went on to say he disliked politicians, saying they were 'f* up Brexit', (and) made various other comments about illegal immigrants in the country."
"He was arrested and made various comments about how the security was very poor," Mr Simpson said.
"There was a total of 1,757 minutes of lost time as a result of it and the estimation is that there will be in excess of £40,000 in delay fines."
The disruption caused delays for between 7,000 and 8,000 passengers, Mr Simpson added.
Maher, who the court heard receives benefits, complained about foreign aid money spent in India and told police he had "thought he was going to need bolt-cutters" to get on to the building.
His one-man demonstration, staged on the day Britain was originally due to leave the EU, caused the cancellation of eight Eurostar services.
Southeastern Trains had to cancel 16 high-speed services and part-cancel 44 others. A further 28 were delayed.
Maher, who sat with his face covered by his hands for much of the hearing, spoke to confirm his name and address and gave his nationality as English.
He admitted a charge of causing a public nuisance and was remanded in custody ahead of a hearing on 29 April over a second count under the Malicious Damage Act.
District Judge Richard Blake said the protest was "very serious indeed" and "cost many thousands of pounds".