'I knew Bristol wanted it' - Colston protester tells statue damage trial

Jake Skuse is one of four people on trial for criminal damage. Credit: BPM Media

A protester who helped roll the statue of Edward Colston to Bristol Harbour before it was thrown in the water has told a court he "knew he was in the right" and that it was "what the people of Bristol wanted".

The memorial to the 17th century merchant was toppled during a Black Lives Matter march in June 2020, before being dumped in the harbour.

It became an iconic moment in the anti-racism protests staged around the world in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by police in the US.

Jake Skuse, 33, is one of four people on trial for criminal damage for allegedly orchestrating the moving of the statue to the water’s edge.

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“I don’t think the council did their job properly – if there was a racist piece of graffiti they would have removed it,” he said.Skuse said he had never signed any of the many petitions to have the statue taken down “because I thought it would have fallen on deaf ears”.

His co-defendants Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, are accused of helping to pull the statue down.

Giving evidence today (22 December), Skuse told the court he accepts rolling it towards Pero’s Bridge and throwing it in the harbour.

Anti-racism demonstrations in the UK included the topping of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Credit: PA

“I don’t think the council did their job properly – if there was a racist piece of graffiti they would have removed it,” he said.

Skuse said he had never signed any of the many petitions to have the statue taken down “because I thought it would have fallen on deaf ears”.

Asked if he had spoken to the council, he replied: “If I haven’t signed a petition, I’m not going to ring the council am I?”

The defendant was not present when the statue was pulled down, and instead arrived a few minutes later after receiving a phone call from a friend about it.

Describing hearing the news, Skuse said: “I didn’t believe it, I was like ‘no way’ – people have wanted it down for years.

“I just needed to go and see for myself."

“It was like a sentence, we were sentencing him to death"

Skuse said he was staging a symbolic “sentencing” of the slave trader.

He said it felt “significant” to drag the statue along the cobbles to the harbour, because he thought enslaved people might have been dragged to the ships there.

“It was like a sentence, we were sentencing him to death – we all had to come together.”

"Everyone wanted the same thing"

When asked if he thought he was damaging the statue, he said: “It didn’t even enter my head. It was a piece of trash on the floor when I turned up.

“I knew I was in the right, I knew everyone wanted it down, I knew Bristol wanted it, everyone wanted the same thing.”

Campaigners have previously called for the dismantling of Edward Colston. Credit: PA

The defendant said he felt the statue should be thrown in the river “so the council couldn’t do their job incorrectly again and put it back up”.

Skuse became irritated with questions about his previous attempts to get the statue taken down.

He told the prosecutor: “Look, I’ll make it really easy for you, I did nothing before that day."

Graham, of Colston Road, Bristol; Ponsford, of Otter Close, Bishopstoke, Hampshire; Skuse, of Farley Close, Bristol; and Willoughby, of Gloucester Road, Bristol, are on unconditional bail.

The trial continues.