Rock star’s son admits rampage at fees protest

Charlie Gilmour was warned he could face a jail term after pleading guilty to violent disorder – but he was granted bail until July to give him time to complete Cambridge University exams.

Gilmour, who was accused of a string of offences during the riot on December 9, entered a non-specific guilty plea as he appeared at Kingston Crown Court, south west London, yesterday.

The 21-year-old, from Billings-hurst, West Sussex, has yet to specify whether he admits leaping on the bonnet of a car carrying Royal protection officers escorting the Prince of Wales and his wife to the Royal Variety Performance.

Judge Nicholas Price QC granted him conditional bail as he adjourned proceedings until July 8.

Gilmour, a former model, wore a grey suit and dark tie as he spoke to confirm his name and enter a guilty plea.

He is accused of smashing a shop window and throwing a rubbish bin at the Royal convoy. The bin missed the Royal couple but hit another car, it is alleged.

Gilmour was among thousands of people who protested in Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square on December 9 and was photographed hanging from a Union flag on the Cenotaph.

He issued an apology the day after the demonstrations, describing it as a “moment of idiocy”, and adding that he did not realise the Whitehall monument commemorated Britain’s war dead.

Gilmour’s biological father is poet and playwright Heathcote Williams but he was adopted by the rock star when his mother, writer and journalist Polly Samson, remarried.