Man who climbed city statue is arrested after 12 hours of drama and disruption

The 42-year-old shinned up the 20ft column, which forms the base of a statue for Queen Victoria, at 5.30am.

The man, who quickly became an attraction for a large crowd and was the subject of much discussion on social networking websites, finally climbed down when police put a ladder up at about 5pm and was then arrested.

Earlier the man shouted out that people were trying to kill him and said he was scared and wanted to go back to Italy.

But at times he appeared to be enjoying the drama – waving to onlookers, who waved at him.

An initial large police presence was scaled down in an attempt to defuse the situation.

But police set up a cordon as the afternoon wore on and people started throwing bottles and coins at him. Earlier a man was arrested after trying to climb up the statue.

A police spokesman said the area had to be cordoned off again "for his own protection".

Chief Inspector Kai Adegbembo said: "We would like to thank the majority of the public for their patience with any disruption the incident may have caused."