(left to right) Sage Willoughby, Jake Skuse, Milo Ponsford and Rhian Graham outside Bristol Crown Court. They have been cleared of criminal damage for pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020
FOUR protesters have been found not guilty of criminal damage after toppling a statue of slave trader Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter demo in Bristol.
Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, Sage Willoughby, 22, and Jake Skuse, 33, were cleared at Bristol Crown Court this afternoon of the charges following a 10-day trial.
The four along with “persons unknown” were accused of putting ropes around the neck of the bronze figure and pulling it to the ground during the demo in June 2020. Protesters then rolled the 17th-century slave merchant into Bristol harbour.
Former judge ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the details and controversy of Lucy Letby’s trial and appeal in the context of famous historical wrongful convictions that prove both the justice system and legal activists make errors
The heroism of the jury who defied prison and starvation conditions secured the absolute right of juries to deliver verdicts based on conscience — a convention which is now under attack, writes MAT COWARD
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the government’s proposals to further limit the right of citizens to trial by jury
