Less than 48 hours after being unveiled to the public, a statue of the iconic David Bowie has been vandalised.
The bronze statue, titled Earthly Messenger, serves as a tribute to Bowie who died in January 2016.
The Bowie statue was erected in Aylesbury on March 25, in the town where Bowie gave his first performance as Ziggy Stardust in 1972. The sculpture features several of Bowie’s musical personas, with his Stardust character at the forefront.
However, less than 48 hours later unknown vandals spray-painted the words “Feed the homeless first” at the foot of the bronze statue. Painted along the walls behind the state was “RIP DB”.
The statue, which cost £100,000, was raised through a crowdfunding campaign led by music promoter David Stopps.
The Guardian reports the extent of street homelessness in the UK is rising, with rough sleeping up 15 per cent since 2016.
Local resident Helen Light told the BBC, “Taxpayers will now be paying for the cleanup, so it is the vandal who will ironically be taking money away from the homeless.”
