A suspended Labour councillor who said far-right protesters should have their throats slit has been found not guilty of encouraging violent disorder.
Ricky Jones, 58, drew his finger across his throat and called demonstrators “disgusting Nazi fascists” at an anti-racism protest in east London last August following the Southport murders.
Jones, a borough councillor in Dartford, Kent, from 2019, said he felt it was his “duty” to attend the protest in Walthamstow, despite being warned by his party to stay away. He was suspended the day after the incident.
Jones, of Dartford, who denied one count of encouraging violent disorder, told police he was “sorry” he made the comments “in the heat of the moment”, and had not intended for them to be “taken literally”, the court had earlier heard.
On Friday, jurors found Jones not guilty after just half an hour of deliberations.
Image:
Jones leaving Snaresbrook Crown Court earlier this week. Pic: PA
A video of Jones speaking to cheering protesters went viral on social media after the demonstration.
The protest had been organised in response to plans for a far-right march outside nearby Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau, jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court were told.
It followed the nationwide violent disorder that occurred last summer after the Southport murders when Axel Rudakubana killed three girls and attempted to murder eight others at a summer holiday Taylor Swift-themed event.
Jones, who was also employed as a full-time official for the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) union at the time, was arrested a day after the protest and questioned by police in Brixton.
Prosecutor Ben Holt said during the trial that Jones used “inflammatory, rabble-rousing language in the throng of a crowd that we will hear described as a tinderbox”.
He told the court that Jones gave his speech, which was amplified through a microphone and speakers, “in a setting where violence could readily have been anticipated”.
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Jones, who said he was on the left of the Labour Party, told jurors that he was “appalled” by political violence, adding that the riots left him feeling “upset” and “angry”.
“I’ve always believed the best way to make people realise who you are and what you are is to do it peacefully,” he said.