Edward Colston statue: Man sent Bristol mayor 'grossly offensive' emails

A man has been convicted of sending "offensive and aggressive" emails to the mayor of Bristol after protesters tore down a statue of a slave merchant.

Fleetwood Spence emailed Marvin Rees six times after seeing the statue of Edward Colston pulled from its plinth.

Spence, of Irby, Wirral, included violent threats to those who supported its removal, prosecutors said.

The 72-year-old, who admitted sending malicious communications, was given a curfew and ordered to pay costs.

The controversial memorial to the 17th Century slaver was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol city centre on 7 June last year before being dumped in the harbour.

The following day, the Labour mayor said the statue was "an affront to me and people like me", but did not condone the actions of the protesters.

Six emails were subsequently sent to his office from a number of email addresses set up on a service which seeks to anonymize the sender, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

A police investigation traced the emails back to Spence who told officers visiting his home on 12 August that he "didn't think they were offensive".

At police interview eight days later, he admitted sending the messages and said he "felt embarrassed about them", she said.

"He admitted he had been drinking when he sent them and said he feared the protesters would go on to damage statues of Winston Churchill," she added.

After pleading guilty at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Monday, Spence was given a curfew between 19:00 and 07:00 for the next 24 weeks and ordered to pay £85 costs and a victim surcharge of £95.

Associate prosecutor Andrew Page said Spence's emails "were grossly offensive and really aggressive" and the fact he had been drinking was "irrelevant".

"People sometimes think they can write what they want to others, but there are laws to protect the public... and on that night, Spence crossed the line into criminality and he has paid the price," he said.

"I hope this case is a lesson to others who take to their keyboards to spread offence and upset."

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