A suspended Labour councillor who called for far-right protesters’ throats to be cut at an anti-racism rally has been cleared of encouraging violent disorder.
Ricky Jones, 58, was found not guilty on Friday after a jury deliberated for just half an hour.
Mr Jones attended a counter-demonstration on Hoe Street, Walthamstow, on August 7, 2024, in response to anti-migrant rallies sparked by the murders of three young girls in Southport.
Ellie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine, were killed by Axel Rudakubana, who also injured several children and adults at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024.
The incident sparked riots nationwide after misinformation spread online that killer, Rudakubana, was a Muslim asylum seeker who had recently arrived in Britain on a small boat.
In the wake of rioting after the Southport murders last summer, Mr Jones described far-right activists as ‘disgusting Nazi fascists’, his trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
Jones previously told the trial his comment did not refer to far-right protesters involved in the riots at the time, but to those who had reportedly left National Front stickers on a train with razor blades hidden behind them.
A video showing the father-of-four addressing the crowd in Walthamstow, east London, on August 7 last year, went viral on social media after the protest.
Wearing a black polo top and surrounded by cheering supporters, the councillor said: ‘You’ve got women and children using these trains during the summer holidays.
‘They don’t give a sh*t about who they hurt.
‘They are disgusting Nazi fascists. We need to cut all their throats and get rid of them all.’
He also drew his finger across his throat as he spoke to the crowd.
Prosecutor ben Holt alleged that Jones, who at the time worked as an official for the Transport Salaried Staff’s Association (TSSA) union, had used ‘inflammatory, rabble-rousing language’ in front of a crowd they described as a ‘tinderbox’.
He told jurors Jones’s speech was amplified through a microphone and speakers and took place ‘in a setting where violence could readily have been anticipated’.
Superintendent Jack May-Robinson previously told the court: ‘Any spark could have led to an incident or disorder occurring.’
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Mr Jones, who said he was on the left of the Labour Party, previously told jurors the riots had made him feel ‘upset’ and ‘angry’ and said he felt it was his ‘duty’ to attend counter-protests, despite being warned to stay away from such demonstrations by the Labour Party.
The jury also heard a medical report by experts from the prosecution and defence agreed that Jones ‘suffers from a number of neurodivergent challenges’ – including ‘impaired verbal comprehension potentially leading to misunderstanding the impact of his words’ and ‘slower cognitive processing meaning he may not have evaluated the situation in real time’.
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