A pro-Palestine activist defaced a statue of Sir Winston Churchill outside Parliament by spraying the words ‘Zionist war criminal’ in red paint on it, a court heard.

Casbar San Giorgi, 39, is accused of causing more than £7,000 of damage to the bronze monument in the early hours of February 27.

He is said to have scaled the 20ft sculpture in a black overcoat with a red boiler suit underneath bearing the words ‘I support Palestine Action’, and scrawled ‘Free Palestine’, ‘Globalise the intifada’ and ‘Stop the genocide’ on the figure and its plinth in Parliament Square, Westminster.

The Dutchman was caught when a heritage warden for the Greater London Authority, which is responsible for the statue’s upkeep, spotted him during a patrol.

Giorgi, who also uses the alias Olax Outis and has no fixed address in Britain, is accused of one count of criminal damage at Southwark Crown Court.

Peter Ratliff, prosecuting, told the jury the case was not about the defendant's views on Palestine or Israel, but about the evidence before them.

‘The prosecution’s case is the defendant, armed with cans of red spray paint and a ladder, went to the statue.

‘He used the ladder to climb the plinth, then began defacing the statue and then the plinth.

‘He was spotted by a heritage warden for the Greater London Authority who approached the defendant and told him to get down and stop graffitiing the statue immediately.

‘The defendant told him that he was doing a protest and that he should call the police.’

The police were already driving to the statue and arrived at 4.10am.

Officers got Giorgi off the statue and arrested him on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

Hours later specialised repair works lasting two days began which required elevated platforms and police barriers.

Giorgi denies one charge of criminal damage. The trial before Recorder Mukul Chawla KC continues.