Never has the label around Paddington’s neck reading “please look after this bear” been so pertinent.

On Wednesday morning, a repaired statue of the Peruvian ursine was unveiled in Newbury, Berkshire, after it was damaged by two Royal Air Force engineers out on a bender.

Daniel Heath and William Lawrence, both 22 and engineers at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, were sentenced for the offence at Reading magistrates court in March with the judge telling the men they were “the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for”.

Michael Bond, the author and creator of Paddington, was born in Newbury and the court heard this added to the cultural significance of the statue.

People cheered on the high street in Newbury as the chair of the Newbury improvement district, Ian Batho, and the vice-chair, Ashley Morris, removed the veil that covered the repaired statue.

Among those who came to see the unveiling of the statue was Anthony George, who had been so devastated by the act of vandalism he has had the marmalade-loving cub tattooed on his leg.

George, 64, from Hungerford in Berkshire, said: “I wouldn’t miss [the unveiling] for the world.”

Of his tattoo, George said: “I just want to symbolise what a wonderful fictional character Paddington is. I grew up with Paddington, so it means a lot.

“It clearly says on his name tag ‘look after me’, or words to that effect, and hopefully people will adhere to that: be kind. Unfortunately, the other two that vandalised it weren’t very kind.”

Heath and Lawrence were told to pay £2,725 each towards the costs of repairing the statue. They were also sentenced to a 12-month community order and required to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Bond’s creation has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity over the last decade since the release of a trilogy of live-action films, which have reportedly grossed nearly $800m (£625m) worldwide.