A former Labour councillor has denied encouraging violent disorder in a speech where he called for political opponents to have their throats cut.
Ricky Jones, 57, has again appeared in court to face one count of encouraging violent disorder over an August speech at a ‘peace rally’ held in response to days of disorder across England and Wales. A recording of the event showed Jones shouting through a microphone “they are disgusting, Nazi fascists. We need to cut all their throats, and get rid of them all”, while making a gesture of drawing his finger across his throat.
Court reporting by The Independent notes Jones, who was a Labour councillor and trade unionist at the time of the speech, accepted through his defence barrister Hossein Zahir KC that the words had indeed been spoken, but that he didn’t realise saying them would be illegal.
Jones, who appeared in court by video link from His Majesty’s Prison Wormwood Scrubs where he has been held since his arrest spoke to confirm his identity and plead not guilty to the charge.
The judge set the trial date as January 20th 2025.
