Image copyright PA Image caption The hammer made three holes in the top layer of protective glass

A hammer-wielding man has been arrested after an attempted smash and grab of a Magna Carta from its display at Salisbury Cathedral. British police said Friday Oct. 26, 2018, that cathedral alarms sounded Thursday afternoon when a person tried to smash the glass display box surrounding the Magna Carta in Salisbury Cathedral, and a man has been arrested. Man Tried To Steal Magna Carta, 800-Year-Old Symbol Of The Law, Police Say

Enlarge this image toggle caption Kieran Doherty/Reuters Kieran Doherty/Reuters

Police in Salisbury, England, have arrested a man who, they say, tried to steal the Magna Carta — the 1215 document that established basic tenets of the rule of law. It also stipulated that “no free man shall be seized or imprisoned … except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”

The Magna Carta on display at the cathedral is one of four surviving originals. A man who was arrested on suspicion of attempting to steal the Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral has been released on bail, police say. "A man matching the description given by witnesses was arrested on suspicion of attempted theft, possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage, and has been taken to Melksham custody for questioning where he remains."
A man in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, is arrested for attempting to steal one of four existing original copies of Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral.