In a majority verdict Wednesday, a jury of the Bristol Crown Court in the UK found Sage Willoughby, Jake Skuse, Milo Ponsford, and Rhian Grahamm, dubbed the “Colston Four,” not guilty of criminal damage under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 for their involvement in pulling down an 1895 statue of slave trader Edward Colston in 2020. 

Over 3,000 people had gathered at Bristol’s city center for a Black Lives Matter march on June 7, 2020, a few weeks after the murder of George Floyd. Willoughby, Ponsford, and Graham were charged for tying ropes to the statue of Colston at the city center, after which around 14 persons unidentifiable from CCTV footage pulled the statue down and defaced it. Skuse and others dragged the statue to Pero’s Bridge, named after a slave, and pushed it into the harbor. As per the prosecution, the statue was recovered with damage worth an estimated GBP 3,750.

Local news sites reported the prosecution’s case revolved around the fact that the Bristol City Council had not granted permission to alter or remove the statue. However, the accused believed the council’s role was restricted to the statue’s “upkeep and maintenance,” and ownership of the statue lay with the people since its accompanying plaque read it was “erected by the people of Bristol. ” The defendants believed they enjoyed popular support, given placards saying “Colston Must Fall” at the site, an online petition for its removal with over 100,000 signatures, and a decades-long campaign to remove the statue, which had been ignored by authorities.

Although the prosecution stressed it was a trial of the Colston Four and not Colston himself, the defense included statements by historian David Olusoga OBE as an expert witness and by descendants of slaves. They also attempted to show how their actions were a proportionate response to the statue’s presence which they termed a “hate crime.” Colston, in his position in the Royal African Company, directed the transportation of over 80,000 slaves in the 1600s. 

While supporters called the verdict historic, ending the intransigence of successive councils in removing a “monument to crimes against humanity,” Members of Parliament of the Conservative Party (of which Colston himself was once an MP) opined that the decision “undermined the rule of law.” Cabinet Minister Grant Shapps stated that a clause in the Police, Crime, and Sentencing Bill should prevent future “vandals” from escaping prosecution. The statue has since been made an exhibit at a local museum, while the plinth on which it stood is occupied by a statue of Black protester Jen Reid titled “A Surge of Power.”