Judges reject challenge from Charlie Gilmour, son of rock star David, to 16-month sentence The son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, seen swinging from the Cenotaph and kicking a shop window during a drink and drug-fuelled rampage at a student fees protest, has lost his appeal against his 16-month prison sentence. Charlie Gilmour, 21, a Cambridge University history undergraduate, who admitted violent disorder during the 9 December demonstration in London's West End, had his challenge rejected by the court of appeal. A three-judge panel, headed by Lord Justice Hughes, was unable to say his sentence was "arguably either manifestly excessive or wrong in principle". Gilmour, who was sentenced in July, was photographed hanging from a union flag on the Cenotaph, seen on CCTV launching "heavy kicks" at the window of Topshop's flagship store in Oxford Street and helping himself to a mannequin leg, and then sitting "ostentatiously" on the bonnet of a Jaguar car, part of a royal convoy transporting Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall to the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium. The judge at his original trial had also found Gilmour had thrown a rubbish bin at the vehicle in which the royal couple were travelling. Part of his appeal was over the evidence on which the judge made that decision. In its ruling the court of appeal said while the face of the rubbish bin thrower was not clear in photographs of the incident, the judge had concluded he was sure it was Gilmour because "the thrower was the same build and colouring", and had "similar long straggly hair" and was wearing "a similar [waisted] greatcoat to that worn by the defendant". The greatcoat was evident during an impromptu TV interview Gilmour had given on the streets that night, during which "he was still carrying the mannequin part, albeit he tried to tuck it under his greatcoat", said Hughes. The trial judge was entitled to come to the conclusion it was Gilmour, he said. Gilmour had turned to drink and drugs after being rejected by his biological father, writer Heathcote Williams, and had taken LSD and Valium in the hours leading up to the violence, his original trial at Kingston crown court was told. Rejecting his appeal, Hughes said there was serious mob disorder on 9 December, with "mass attacks on shops" and "hapless" shoppers and staff "besieged inside" as a large group moved up Whitehall to Oxford Street. In Regent Street, the windows of the royal couple's car and their escort vehicles were smashed, wing mirrors and wipers "wrenched off" and paint and other objects including bottles were thrown and them. The judges agreed at times in the day Gimour was "clearly in good, if intoxicated humour". He was seen shouting good-humouredly and at another point declaiming poetry. But his behaviour was not always in this benevolent category, said Hughes. He was photographed in Parliament Square "hefting a lump of rock" and had "crouched down in the doorway of the nearby supreme court and tried to set fire to a bundle of newspapers against the wooden doors" but was dissuaded and "scampered away". "A little later he was to be found swinging in an exhibitionist manner and for quite a prolonged period on one of the flags on the Cenotaph," which "unsurprisingly subsequently attracted a good deal of attention". "Deeply offensive as it undoubtedly was" it did not amount to violence, said the judges, but did demonstrate he was at times "over-excited, out of control and raising the temperature in a manner which could only be dangerous in the context of a large and angry crowd". Hughes said Gilmour was "plainly a talented man" and references from people described him as a person "generally of gentle and peaceable disposition". He was "much chastened" by what he had done, and had made "genuine efforts to stop drinking and taking drugs". But, added Hughes, "we do not believe that violence in this context and of the kind displayed by this defendant can normally be met by other than significant sentences of immediate custody even for those of otherwise good character". The sentence passed was a "penalty which properly met the facts of this case". Crime Tuition fees Pink Floyd Protest Court of appeal Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds