Man cleared of Griffin racial abuse

Published on Wednesday 4 November 2009 18:51

AN ASIAN man was cleared yesterday of racially abusing BNP leader Nick Griffin.

Tauriq Khalid, 23, denied shouting "white b*******" at far-right demonstrators in his home town of Burnley, Lancashire, in November last year.

A jury of five women and seven men cleared Khalid of one count of using racially-abusive threatening behaviour, after deliberating for 45 minutes following a three-day trial at Preston Crown Court.

Khalid admitted shouting derisory comments from his car window at BNP demonstrators outside Burnley police station.

He told the jury that he stopped his Vauxhall Astra and shouted "Nick Griffin, you f****** w*****", and made a V-sign with his fingers.

Khalid also admitted that he shouted several times, "Get the f*** out of Burnley, you're not welcome here".

But he denied making a gun gesture towards Mr Griffin, an MEP for North West England with an office in Burnley, or that he indicated he intended to shoot him.

He told the jury: "I shouldn't have done what I done really. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing."

Khalid was arrested after a protester noted his car's registration number. He declined to comment as he left court.

Mr Griffin said that the verdict was "unfortunate", but he accepted the jury's decision.

He said: "I know that man threatened me without a shadow of a doubt, but he, or his defence counsel, have managed to convince them otherwise.

"I know it's the wrong decision – juries sometimes get it wrong – but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it."