Tim Haries, Queen's portrait defacer, loses appeal
A Fathers4Justice campaigner who defaced a portrait of the Queen with paint in Westminster Abbey has lost a challenge against his six-month jail sentence at the Court of Appeal.
Tim Haries, 42, of Bellis Avenue, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, told jurors he did it to highlight the "social justice issue of our time".
He was in court to hear the dismissal of his case by Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas and two other judges.
He was sentenced last month.
The father-of-two smuggled a can of purple spray paint into the Abbey on 13 June last year before writing the word "help" on the painting.
He denied a charge of causing criminal damage of more than £5,000, but was found guilty at London's Southwark Crown Court in January.
The portrait of the Queen was unveiled for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The judges ruled that his sentence was "fully merited".