Four people accused of illegally toppling a statue of Bristolian slave trader Edward Colston have been cleared of criminal damage.

The bronze memorial to the 17th century slave merchant was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest on June 7 2020. المراهنات على المباريات

Images showed the statue being rolled throughout the city and eventually dropped into a harbour.

Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, were caught on CCTV passing the ropes around the statue that were used to pull it down and Jake Skuse, 33, accused of orchestrating the plan to throw it in the harbour.

Despite going through a near two-and-a-half-week trial all four defendants denied criminal action, claiming the statue itself had been a hate crime against the people of Bristol.

Ms Willoughby said: “We are ecstatic and stunned. لعبة على الانترنت I tried to write something for this moment and I’m just so overwhelmed. لعبة سباق الخيل ”

Raj Chada, who represented Mr Skuse, said the “defendants should never have been prosecuted”.

He added: “It is shameful that Bristol City Council did not take down the statue of slaver Edward Colston that had caused such offence to people in Bristol and equally shameful that they then supported the prosecution of these defendants.”