Waltham Forest (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Suspended Labour councillor Ricky Jones has been cleared of charges of encouraging violent disorder over comments made at an anti-racism rally.
Jones was charged with the crime and put on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court after calling protesters “disgusting Nazi fascists.”
Following the demonstration, which was organized in reaction to plans for a far-right march outside the Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau, a video of Jones speaking to crowds on Hoe Street in Walthamstow, east London, on August 7 of last year went popular on social media.
As he addressed the audience, he also pulled his finger over his throat.
On Friday, after just over 30 minutes of deliberation, the jury declared him not guilty.
Jones was spotted mouthing “thank you” at the panel while wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt, and pale pink tie near the dock.
Connolly avoided a trial after entering a guilty plea to a charge of inciting racial hatred last year by disseminating and publishing “threatening or abusive” written material about X.
Jones was arrested on August 8 of last year and questioned that evening at the Brixton police station. At the time, Jones was also working as a full-time official for the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association union.
He has served as a Dartford, Kent, borough councilor since 2019, but the day following the incident, the Labour Party suspended him.
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”.
Giving evidence in his trial, Jones said 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.
Before he made the comment, jurors were shown a video where he said to crowds:
“You’ve got women and children using these trains during the summer holidays.
They don’t give a shit about who they hurt.”
He told the court he was “appalled” by political violence, adding:
“I’ve always believed the best way to make people realise who you are and what you are is to do it peacefully.”
What was the legal basis for dismissing the assault charges against Jones?
The legal basis for dismissing the charges against Ricky Jones in his case was centered on the court’s judgment that his comments at the anti-racism rally did not meet the threshold for encouraging violent disorder.
During the trial, Jones argued that his remarks about “cutting throats” were directed specifically at far-right militants who had engaged in provocative and threatening acts, rather than an incitement of violence toward all far-right protesters generally.
Jurors concluded that the prosecution did not sufficiently prove that Jones’s comments amounted to encouraging violent disorder. They accepted his explanation that he was reacting to extremist provocations and expressing extreme frustration rather than issuing a genuine call to violence.