A man accused of assaulting former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith with a traffic cone has been cleared by a judge.
Sir Iain described being followed by a group of protesters shouting and banging a drum on 4 October 2021 in Manchester, before a cone was “smacked down” on his head.
The politician said he feared for his wife and friend when a cone was put on his head and protesters hurled abuse at him during the 2021 Conservative Party Conference.
Sir Iain was leaving a conference in the Midland Hotel and was on the way to speak at the Mercure Hotel, when he was attacked, repeatedly sworn at and labelled “Tory scum”, he told Manchester Magistrates’ Court.
CCTV footage which allegedly identified Elliot Bovill, 32, as the person who put the traffic cone on the MP’s head was shown to the court.
Yet the evidence was declared “weak” and “tenuous” by district judge Paul Goldspring on…
