Cliff Notes
- Ricky Jones, a suspended Labour councillor, was found not guilty of encouraging violent disorder after making inflammatory comments at an anti-racism protest.
- The 58-year-old faced backlash for suggesting that far-right protesters should have their “throats slit” during a rally in Walthamstow, which led to his suspension from the party.
- Jones later expressed regret for his comments, stating they were made “in the heat of the moment” and were not intended to be taken literally.
Ricky Jones: Suspended Labour councillor who called for protesters’ throats to be cut at rally not guilty of encouraging violent disorder | UK News
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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, had been warned by his party to stay away from the event in Walthamstow, and 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.
A video of Jones speaking to the “tinderbox” crowd went viral on social media after the protest.
The demonstration 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.
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