Traffic cone was slammed on my head, Duncan Smith tells court

Sir Iain Duncan Smith feared for his wife and her friend when he had a traffic cone "slammed" on his head as they were followed by "threatening" protesters, he has told a court.

The former Tory leader said his group was subjected to a "cacophony of sound" as he walked to Manchester's Mercure Hotel on 4 October 2021.

Sir Iain told Manchester Magistrates' Court he called the group "pathetic".

Elliot Bovill, 32, of no fixed address, has denied common assault.

Co-accused Radical Haslam, 29, from Manchester, and Ruth Wood, 52, from Cambridge, both deny using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Sir Iain told district judge Paul Goldspring his group was targeted as they walked from the Midland Hotel to the Mercure Hotel as the city hosted the Conservative Party conference.

He said they were subjected to a "cacophony of sound", a banging drum, abuse and insults.

The 68-year-old said he turned round after a cone was "smacked down" on his head and told the group "you are pathetic" before his group went into the hotel, where he was due to speak at a fringe meeting.

He said he felt the protesters were "peculiarly threatening" and he was particularly concerned for the safety of his wife Betsy and her friend, Primrose Yorke.

He said the protesters "frightened those with me, and myself".

"I have seen a lot of protests in the course of my time as a politician," he said.

"I'm normally not overly concerned. People normally make their points, but not in a threatening way.

"This, I felt, was threatening, it's as simple as that. I think they set out to be threatening."

The court was shown CCTV footage of the moment the cone was put on Sir Iain's head as his group crossed a side road.

"I got a traffic cone slammed on to my head," Sir Iain said.

"I got three-quarters of the way across and I felt this blow on the back of my head and neck.

"I could feel something going on to it which knocked my head forward."

Sir Iain said he took the cone off his head and turned round.

"I didn't know who had done it. 'You are pathetic', I said, and I dropped the cone."

Tom Wainwright, defending Ms Wood, asked Sir Iain about his resilience to bad language, citing his time in Northern Ireland, with the Scots Guards, and being a Tottenham Hotspur season ticket holder.

The MP said this was "not in any way relevant" and that he felt the term "Tory scum" was an "appallingly abusive piece of language".

Giving evidence, Lady Duncan Smith said the protesters who followed them from the hotel "used the C-word, the F-word, they called us scum, Tory scum".

She said that she also specifically remembered them saying "Manchester hates you - go back to Chingford and Woodford Green".

She said the abuse was "consistent and very loud" and was "getting quite nasty", telling Mr Goldspring they were confronted with a "barrage of rudery".

"It actually got quite worrying for the last bit of the journey," she said.

"I do remember thinking 'where are the police?'.

"I was very relieved when we made it into the foyer of the hotel."

She added that after the comment about "Chingford and Woodford Green", she had told Mrs Yorke: "If that isn't a hate crime, I don't know what is."

"The whole thing was very unnerving," she added.

Mrs Yorke told the court the "language and the aggression was worrying".

"We were relentlessly pursued for damn nearly half a mile," she said.

The case continues.

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