Protester Charlie Gilmour released on tag

The adopted son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour has been released from prison, four months after he was sentenced for violent disorder during the tuition fee protests, his solicitor said today.

Charlie Gilmour was jailed for 16 months in July after he was seen swinging from a Union flag on the Cenotaph during demonstrations in London last December.

Robert Brown, from Corker Binning solicitors, said: "Today, November 15, Charlie Gilmour was released from HMP Wayland subject to him complying with a home detention curfew (HDC - commonly known as tagging).

"The curfew will continue until the halfway point of his 16- month sentence. This is standard procedure for prisoners who are serving a sentence of between three months and four years.

"Charlie Gilmour was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment on July 15 2011 and his release today subject to HDC is therefore in line with normal Home Office procedure."

It was not clear whether Gilmour would be allowed to return to Cambridge University, where he was studying history at Girton College.

Asked whether Gilmour would return to university, David Gilmour's publicist Claire Singers said: "One would hope he returns to his studies.

"I'm not going to make any other comments."

Pressed about the timing of any return to university, she said: "We haven't got that far - it's one step at a time as you can imagine."

A spokesman for the university said: "No decision has been made yet.

"If he did come out of jail shortly, he would have to start in the next academic year."

Asked if he could return this year, he said: "It is absolutely out of the question - he would have to do a full cycle.

"If he were to come back it would have to be next October.

"The college would have to make the decision and we don't even know whether he wants to come back yet."

Gilmour, of Billinghurst, West Sussex, admitted violent disorder after joining thousands demonstrating in London's Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square last year.

At his appeal last month, his barrister told the Court of Appeal that Gilmour was intoxicated and did not realise he was swinging from the Cenotaph.

The judge at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court accepted in July that the incident did not form part of the violent disorder, but described it as "outrageous and deeply offensive behaviour".

Gilmour was also seen leaping on to the bonnet of a Jaguar car that formed part of a royal convoy.

He was found to have hurled a rubbish bin at the vehicle.

The court heard that Gilmour turned to drink and drugs after being rejected by his biological father, the writer Heathcote Williams, and had taken LSD and valium in the hours leading up to the violence.

Appeal judges heard that he had "successfully reformed and rehabilitated himself" and had addressed the "underlying drug and alcohol problems".

PA