Nigel Farage has also been making ‘dangerous’ claims about a police cover-up.
Reform’s youngest council leader, George Finch admitted at a press conference yesterday that he risked breaking the law over his comments about an ongoing rape trial.
Two men have been charged with the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
During the press conference yesterday, councillor Finch, the recently elected leader of Warwickshire County Council and Nigel Farage, claimed there had been a “cover-up” of details about the alleged rape.
In his speech, Finch said he had been “begging” police to release details of the immigration statuses of the two suspects.
At one point while he was speaking about the live rape case, he said: “I was told if I released this, I’d be in contempt of court.”
Contempt of court refers to actions that risk unfairly influencing a court case.
Farage also claimed there had been a “cover-up that in many ways is reminiscent of what happened after the Southport killings last year”.
In the Southport attacks last July, three young girls were murdered at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Farage said yesterday: “What caused unrest on our streets after Southport last year was us not being told the status of the attacker.
“That led to crazy conspiracy theories spreading online.”
Former counter terrorism police chief, Neil Basu, accused Farage of spreading misinformation in the aftermath of the attacks.
Farage also claimed: “It is not… in any way at all a contempt of court for the British public to know the identity of those who allegedly have committed serious crimes.”
Warwickshire Police said that once someone is charged with an offence, they follow national guidance, which “does not include sharing ethnicity or immigration status”.
Responding to Farage’s comments, Joe Mulhall, director of research at campaign group Hope not Hate, warned the “anger and tension” seen in the Southport riots last summer has not gone away.
Mulhall told The Mirror: “In the right conditions, it could explode again.
“And I think it’s extraordinarily dangerous, and that’s why now is the sort of time when you expect your politicians to behave responsibly, not to try and exacerbate those tensions and create more anger for their own political desires.”
Sabby Dhalu Co-Convenor of Stand Up To Racism said: “When most sensible people in positions of authority are thinking how they can prevent a repeat of last year’s racist riots, Nigel Farage gets busy doing exactly what he did last year.
“That is stoking up tensions, implying there’s been a cover-up, hoping to win votes on the back of this. Him and his are not fit to be anywhere near power.”
One left-wing Labour MP accused Farage of “maliciously fanning the flames”. They told the Mirror: “Only days ago Farage was forecasting mass civil disobedience. Now he’s making unproven dark hints about ‘cover-ups’.
“He’s maliciously fanning the flames. But the overwhelming view of the British people is that they want their politicians to cool it, not to inflame feelings.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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