A man has been jailed after admitting to “lumping” a right-wing protester during Brighton's huge anti-racism protest last week. Ian Ward pushed a police officer to get to a group of people believed to be anti-immigration protesters in Queen’s Road, Brighton , last Wednesday, before striking one of them in the face as tensions flared. Ward later told police officers that he was “the c*** who lumped one of the right-wing c***s”.
The 53-year-old, of Old Mill Close in Portslade, appeared in Hove Crown Court for sentencing this morning. Read more: Recap: Brighton and Sussex's huge anti-racism counter-protests Footage shown to the court showed Ward, wearing a yellow sleeveless shirt, throwing a backhanded strike into the face of one of the protesters after first pushing a police officer. While the protest was largely peaceful, the court heard that eggs, flour and a snooker ball in a sock were thrown at the small group of people.
In a police interview, after he was arrested days later, Ward told officers that he saw “three smirking w**kers” in Queen’s Road who he thought were goading him and that he “spat at that group as hard as he could”. Read more: 18 pictures as Brighton avoids riots and thousands counter-protest He later went to attack one of the “right-wing t**ts” because “someone had to hit them”. Pierce Power, defending, told the court that Ward had not gone to Queen’s Road to demonstrate along with thousands of anti-racism protesters, but inste.