‘Cut their throats' Labour councillor ‘prone to emotional arousal'

Telegraph

2 days ago

A suspended Labour councillor who said far-Right activists' throats should be cut might be prone to 'reactive speech' because of his 'probable ADHD', a court heard.
Snaresbrook Crown Court was told that Ricky Jones, 58, suffered from 'emotional arousal' which could 'override deliberate decision-making'.
A video of Mr Jones speaking into a microphone at a demonstration held by Stand Up To Racism on Aug 7 last year went viral on social media.
It showed Mr Jones – at the time a councillor for Dartford, Kent – referring to the rioters and protesters who took to the streets after the Southport murders.
Drawing his finger across his throat, he said: 'They are disgusting Nazi fascists. We need to cut all their throats and get rid of them all.'
Mr Jones, who was also a full-time official for the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) union at the time, does not dispute what he said but denies one charge of encouraging violent disorder.
As part of a set of facts agreed by the prosecution and the defence, the jury was told that experts for both sides had confirmed that Mr Jones 'suffers from a number of neurodivergent challenges'.
Issues identified by the experts included 'impulsivity (probable ADHD), increasing the likelihood of reactive speech rather than intentional incitement'.
The experts said testing had established that Mr Jones suffered from 'impaired verbal comprehension potentially leading to misunderstanding the impact of his words' and 'slower cognitive processing, meaning he may not have evaluated the situation in real time'.
They said Mr Jones suffered from 'emotional arousal, which can override deliberate decision-making'.
Giving evidence in court, Mr Jones told the jury he suffered from dyslexia, dyscalculia – which impairs the ability to work with numbers – and Irlen syndrome, which means he has difficulties when reading black text on white paper over long periods of time.
He told the jury his daughters had previously suggested he might have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) but he 'didn't really want another label'.
Hossein Zahir KC, his defence barrister, asked Mr Jones: 'What is the difference between you and someone you might describe as neurotypical?'
Mr Jones replied: 'If I get emotional and distracted I come out with things I don't always mean.'
The father of four was asked about racism in Hackney, east London, where he grew up as a mixed-race child.
He said: 'Wherever you went you saw huge 'NF' graffiti and ... that meant National Front, who were a far-Right organisation at that stage.
'It [was] a bit like the situation today, in the sense of the Reform party. A lot of people are being taken in by the Reform party and believe what they say.'
Mr Jones said his white grandmother, who raised him, was called a 'black man's whore' when he was a boy and she held his hand in public.
Concealed razor blades
A borough councillor since 2019, Mr Jones was suspended by the Labour Party the day after the alleged incident.
At the time of his arrest, he told police in a prepared statement that his comments referred to individuals whom he understood to have stuck a National Front sticker on a train with razor blades concealed behind it.
He added: 'I did not intend for my comments to be taken literally by anyone and I did not intend to encourage or incite anyone to commit violence against any other.
'I am, however, extremely sorry for making the comments which were made in the heat of the moment and I very much regret having done so.'
He said he had not been invited to speak into the microphone at the Stand Up to Racism event 'until the last minute' and 'had not planned or thought about' what he was going to say in advance.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, he said he was appalled by political violence, adding: 'I've always believed the best way to make people realise who you are and what you are is to do it peacefully.'
Mr Jones, who said he was on the Left of the Labour Party, told jurors the riots had made him feel 'upset' and 'angry' and said he felt it was his 'duty' to attend counter-protests.
The trial continues.