North West Hampshire MP Kit Malthouse calls for prosecutions after Edward Colston statue in Bristol is toppled

"Evidence should be gathered and prosecutions should follow"

NORTH West Hampshire MP and Minister for Policing Kit Malthouse has said the perpetrators should be prosecuted after the statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol was pulled down and rolled into the harbour.

Yesterday, anti-racism demonstrators targeted the statue – which has stood in the city since 1895 to honour his philanthropy following his death in 1721.

However, in a round of breakfast interviews this morning, Mr Malthouse said a crime had been committed and accused those responsible of “criminal damage”.

Mr Malthouse said: “Evidence should be gathered and prosecutions should follow.

“There is an elected mayor and council in Bristol and it’s by those democratic means that we resolve these issues in this country, not by people showing up with ropes and tools and committing criminal damage.

“We have to have a sense of order and democracy in the country – that’s how we resolve our differences, that’s how we sort things out and that’s what should have happened.”

The statue of Colston has long been a controversial monument in Bristol.

The prominent slave trader was a member of the Royal African Company, which transported about 80,000 men, women and children from Africa to the Americas.

Many attempts to have the statue removed democratically have failed, while a decision on whether to add a second plaque to the statue detailing his actions as a slave trader has been constantly delayed over debates about the wording.