Images of Cambridge student Charlie Gilmour swinging from the Union Jack at the Cenotaph memorial to Britain’s war dead have sparked fury.

Caught by photographers during yesterday’s violent protests in London, Gilmour issued a public statement in which he sought to apologise for his ‘moment of idiocy’, stating that he ‘feels nothing but shame’.

He added "I feel additionally mortified that my moment of idiocy has distracted so much from the message yesterday's protest was trying to send out. Those who are commemorated by the Cenotaph died to protect the very freedoms that allow the people of Britain the right to protest and I feel deeply ashamed to have, although unintentionally and unknowingly, insulted the memory of them.”

"Ignorance is the poorest of excuses but I am sincerely sorry."

Gilmour, 21, is a student at Girton College and the adopted son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, and claims that at the time he was ‘caught up in the spirit of the moment’ and ‘did not realise it was the Cenotaph’. He is currently reading history.

It is understood that he only realised the significance of his actions after seeing the pictures of himself suspended from the Cenotaph flag splashed across Thursday’s newspapers.

On Friday afternoon, his mother, journalist Polly Samson, tweeted ‘I am as ashamed of him as he is of himself’.

Gilmour’s high-profile gestures in student protests are not without precedent. During the invasion of the Senate House grounds in Cambridge in November, VarsiTV cameras caught Gilmour climbing the walls of the building and attempting to steal the helmet of a nearby police officer.

His actions during the Parliament square protests, however, have caught wider public and media attention with the images of the incident at the Cenotaph being used by The Sun, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail.

It is not clear if Gilmour will face any repercussion, but a spokesman from the University said, "this incident took place outside term time in London and is a matter for the civil authorities."

It is estimated that nearly 30,000 students were present at Thursday’s protest ahead of a House of Commons vote on the issue of rises in tuition fees and cuts to higher education funding.

In violent clashes with students, one mounted officer was knocked from his horse, another suffered a serious neck injury and others were attacked with smoke bombs and make-shift missiles. One student was taken to hospital after the day’s events with head injuries having been hit with a police truncheon, whilst another was caught urinating on the statue of Winston Churchill in the square.