STATUE ‘ VANDALS' CLEARED...BUT WHERE WILL IT ALL END?

Fury as accused who tore down Colston statue are CLEARED

- Michael Knowles

THE acquittal of four activists who pulled down a slave trader’s statue has prompted fears other monuments will be targeted.

Campaign group Save Our Statues said: “It is a disgraceful verdict that gives the green light to political vandalism and sets a precedent for anyone to be able to destroy whatever they disagree with.

“This is not justice.” The toppling of the bronze memorial to 17th-century merchant Edward Colston was into Bristol docks the defining image of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, were caught on CCTV passing the ropes around the statue that were used to pull it down. Jake Skuse, 33, was accused of orchestrating a plan to throw it in the water.

But all four were cleared after defence lawyers urged the jury “to be on the right side of history”.

The prosecution argued the case was a matter of straightforward criminal damage, and who Colston had been was “irrelevant”.