Arrests made in drunken assault, theft of beloved Paddington Bear statue

Two 22-year-old men who were reportedly intoxicated when they vandalized and stole a statue of Paddington Bear eating marmalade sandwich on a park bench in Newbury, England have been issued steep fines and sentenced to community service, according to multiple media reports.  

In surveillance footage of the March 2 incident posted by NBC News, the two British Royal Air Force engineers can be seen kicking the statue, albeit with a lack sharp motor-skills, breaking it apart and getting away with a portion of the beloved bear that rode with them in a taxi back Royal Air Force Odiham shortly after 2 a.m. 

It turns out that Newbury is the wrong place to pick a fight with Paddington Bear, drunk or not.

According to the New York Times, the town is the birthplace of Michael Bond, the creator of the children’s book series. 

The two men, identified by Thames Valley Police as Daniel Heath and William Lawrence, were tracked by the town’s neighborhood policing team to the air force barracks later the same day and arrested.  

“The Paddington Bear statue is a beloved part of Newbury so we did everything we could to locate it and bring the offenders to justice,” Inspector Alan Hawkett of the Newbury Policing Team, said. “After a short stay at Newbury police station, we handed the statue back to its owners so it can be restored.” 

Both men admitted to removing the Paddington statue and pleaded guilty to a count of criminal damage in court. In return, the pair were fined the equivalent of $3,500 U.S. dollars and sentenced to one year of community service.  

The brutalized Paddington Bear, which got to ride in a police car and hangout at the station for a little while, was one of 23 statues depicting the character installed in concert with the release of the latest film, “Paddington in Peru.”