A Conservative MP has hit out at the courts after anti-racism protesters who toppled the statue of a slave trader were found to have committed no crime.
Robert Jenrick, who broke the law as a minister, said the decision to acquit four people of criminal damage would “undermine the rule of law”.
As communities secretary Robert Jenrick was found to have acted unlawfully by approving a £1 billion luxury development for a Tory donor. He left government last year.
The statue of Edward Colston was pulled down during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol.
All four defendants admitted their involvement but denied their actions amounted to criminal damage because the statue itself was a hate crime – a claim which the jury upheld.
Colston was involved in the enslavement over over 80,000 African people, of whom almost 10,000 were children – with an estimated 19,000 dying on ships bound for the Americas.
But despite the court ruling that no criminal damage had taken place, Tory Mr Jenrick said on Wednesday night: “We undermine the rule of law, which underpins our democracy, if we accept vandalism and criminal damage are acceptable forms of political protest. They aren’t. Regardless of the intentions.”
His claim echoes the failed arguments of the prosecution, which argued that it was “irrelevant” who Colston was, and the case was one of straightforward criminal damage.
The local police force accepted the verdict, with chief Superintendent Liz Hughes of Avon and Somerset Police, stating: “Having been presented with the evidence, a jury has now determined their actions were not criminal and we respect its decision.”
Mr Jenrick served as communities secretary between 2019 and 2021. In May 2020 he accepted that he had acted unlawfully by approving a £1 billion luxury development at Westferry, proposed by Tory Donor Richard Desmond.
