A hammer-wielding man was busted for trying to rip off an original copy of the 1215 Magna Carta from a cathedral in England. The…
A hammer-wielding man was busted for trying to rip off an original copy of the 1215 Magna Carta from a cathedral in England.
The 45-year-old suspect walked into Salisbury Cathedral at around 5 p.m. Thursday and smashed a hole in the case holding the influential document, the Salisbury Journal reported.
“We can confirm that at the end of the afternoon yesterday, a man attempted to break into the case which houses Magna Carta in the Cathedral’s Chapter House,” a cathedral spokesman told the outlet. “He was arrested by police shortly afterwards and taken into custody. We are very relieved that no one was hurt during the incident and that the Magna Carta itself is undamaged.”
The unnamed suspect is being held on suspicion of attempted theft, criminal damage and possession of an offensive weapon, according to the BBC.
One witness, a Salisbury resident who only gave her first name, Jenny, said she was walking past the cathedral when she heard alarms sounding and then spotted a few people coming out of the gates.
“It looked like some men play-fighting, but as they got through the gates I saw a hammer drop to the floor and one of the men kicked it into the road [while] another man held on to him,” she told the Journal. “They then held onto him with hands behind his back [while] they picked up the hammer – lots of people around started to come over.”
The cathedral’s website touts its display of the iconic document, a charter of rights agreed to by King John of England on June 15,1215. Historians say the document paved the way for constitutional liberty in the English-speaking world.
“At the time it was the solution to a political crisis in Medieval England, but its importance has endured as it has become recognized as a cornerstone of liberty influencing much of the civilized world,” it says. “Only four copies of Magna Carta dating from 1215 have survived the ravages of time and Salisbury Cathedral is proud to be home to the best preserved original manuscript.”
Though the document itself was not damaged, it was removed from public display for safe-keeping, the Journal reported.
“The layer that is closest to the document itself was completely untouched by the individual concerned, but his hammer did do some damage to the initial glass screen,” cathedral dean the Very Reverend Nick Papadopoulos told the BBC.
A facsimile copy of the charter would be put on display, Papadopoulos said.
