ECCENTRIC Jake Mangel Wurzel has rebuilt a folly in the centre of Huddersfield - and is now guarding it round the clock.
Jake's first 18ft-high mock tower was demolished by Kirklees Council at the end of February without his knowledge.
Jake, 66, of Lindley Moor, has now replaced the structure with a 7ft tall sculpture. He is threatening to `arrest' anyone who tries to knock it down.
Jake is camping out at the self-styled Folly Court in a corner of the precinct near the Jobcentre Plus building in High Street.
His sculpture conceals an ugly concrete post left over from the 1960s when the civic centre was built.
Jake said: "For 20 years I have been looking at that stone thinking I'll turn it into a bird table."
In October last year he set about realising a more ambitious plan for an ornate monument with a winding mechanism to be raised on special occasions.
However, the council tore it down.
Jake busily constructed the tower on free weekends. He estimates that, with the present rebuild, the project has cost him £300 and thousands of hour of labour.
He has been told that council workmen will arrive today to remove the latest structure.
"They must be a bunch of irresponsible lunatics to tear down a beautiful little monument that's hurting nobody," he said.
