A MINISTER has hit out after four protesters were cleared of toppling a slaver’s statue — as it emerged key evidence could lead to an appeal.

       Kit Malthouse vented his frustration after the two-week trial resulted in not guilty verdicts for those involved in thowing the Edward Colston monument into Bristol harbour.

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       Jake Skuse, 33, Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, brought down the statue during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020 2

       The statue of Edward Colston is dropped into Briston harbour

       When asked if he disagreed with the outcome, the Policing Minister said: “I do, yes. But I respect the jury made this decision. I wish they made a different decision but they didn’t.”

       His comments came as it emerged the trial judge’s decision to let historian Professor David Olusoga give evidence on Colston’s slave trade role might form the basis of an appeal.

       In his summing up, Judge Peter Blair told jurors to use the historian’s expertise to help “assess the question of whether displaying a monument of Edward Colston may be indecent or abusive”.

       After the verdicts, William Hughes, for the prosecution, said this evidence “was a gloss that I can imagine would have put anyone in the jury at a degree of unease”.

       Meanwhile Attorney General Suella Braverman said she was “carefully considering” referring the case to the Court of Appeal.

       It would rule on whether there was an error in law on the directions given to the jury.

       The Crown Prosecution Service could then ask for a retrial.

       Jake Skuse, 33, Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, brought down the statue during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020.

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